The Shakers at Hancock Shaker Village had a number of ice houses constructed in the nineteenth century, but the one that survives was built in 1894 to replace an earlier one of 1866. Sister Emoretta Belden described the new ice house in the Shaker Manifesto of December 1894:

We have long anticipated the possession of a new ice-house, with modern improvements. Within the last two months it has been erected. The building is 22×34 ft. with brick walls 18 ft. high, laid in red-colored mortar. One half of the lower story is finished inside with Southern pine, to be used for cold storage. The ice-hall and chamber will hold about two hundred tons of ice. The outside wood-work is painted a light gray color, and presents quite a nice appearance. There are rooms for vegetables, fruits, meats, and any things that we may wish to keep for a long or short time.

Built into a hill side to use the natural insulation of the earth, the south side of the Ice House is smaller than the cooler north side, to minimize the sun’s impact. Cool air from the ice chambers vents directly into food storage rooms, and a cupola on the roof allows the warmer air to escape. For insulation, the building has double and triple hung doors and on the lower level are triple-glazed windows. Continue reading “Ice House, Hancock Shaker Village (1894)”

The Garden Tool Shed at Hancock Shaker Village was originally built as a screened-in structure in 1922 where the Shaker Sisters could relax and drink tea. Such a building, intended for recreation, would never have been built by the more austere earlier shakers. Moved in 1961 to serve as the ticket booth of the Hancock Shaker Village museum, it was later relocated to the foundations of an old tool shed and is now used by the museum’s garden staff. Continue reading “Garden Tool Shed, Hancock Shaker Village (1922)”

The 1910 barn at Hancock Shaker Village was built on the stone foundations of an 1880 barn that had been destroyed by fire after it was struck by lightning on August 2. 1910. An even earlier calf barn on the site had been destroyed by fire in 1879. The new barn was constructed for the Shakers by the firm of Osteyee Brothers using concrete with an exterior stuccoed in cement and a slate roof, all to prevent future fires. A wooden dairy ell for Holstein cows was added in 1939 and the Hancock Shaker Village museum has reconstructed an attached equipment shed that had been demolished in the early 1960s.

On the right is the 1939 dairy ell and on the left is the reconstructed equipment shed.