About Hancock Shaker Village
With 20 historic buildings and a working farm and garden, Hancock Shaker Village is open April through December for self-guided tours, demonstrations, talks, and programs ranging from concerts to goat yoga. The museum celebrates the history and legacy of the Shakers, a religious group that lived communally and sought to realize the perfection of heaven on earth by espousing values of equality and pacifism. On the National Historic Register, it is the most comprehensively interpreted Shaker site in the world and is the oldest working farm in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.
The year 2024 marks the 250th anniversary of the Shakers’ arrival in America from their founding country of England; the year offers opportunities for reflection and celebration of the Shakers’ significant influence on American culture and design.
The History of the Land
The land now known as Hancock Shaker Village is on the western edge of an area once called “Pontoosuck,” a Mohican word meaning “field or haven for winter deer.”
This land is part of the headwaters of the Housatonic River. “Housatonic” (“Housatunnock” or “Aussatinnaog”) is an Algonquian word that means “a place beyond the mountain.” Hundreds of millions of years of geologic activity, from the creation of mountains to the pooling of glacial waters, have produced this beautiful place. We honor all that this land has provided and will provide to its inhabitants – past, present and future.
The Berkshires are part of the ancestral homelands of the Mohicans, the indigenous people who were forced from this land and who live now in Wisconsin as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. Hancock Shaker Village is on a journey to learn more about the people who were here before the Shakers and to care for the land for future generations. As we work to make our agricultural landscape a place that honors the earth and all its inhabitants, we also recognize and celebrate the wisdom, strength, and resilience of the original stewards of the land.
Our Mission Statement
Hancock Shaker Village brings the Shaker story to life and works to ensure its relevance for future generations. Through multifaceted programming in art, music, farming, food and thought, we share the Shaker legacy, strive to ignite curiosity, expand imaginations and inspire.
Our Core Values
True to the ambitious vision of our founders, the Hancock Shakers, their spirit of hard work, dedication to a principled life and pursuit of joy in the everyday, we embrace the following core values of Hancock Shaker Village:
Stewardship is our promise
Endowed with a world-class collection, twenty historic buildings and 750 acres of land, including one of the oldest working farms in the Berkshires, we commit to preserving our heritage, and to sharing it with generations present and future. We continue to contribute to the environmentally sustainable future of our community and actively pursue an ongoing dialogue with the descendants of our indigenous forbearers, whose land we occupy.
Community is our purpose
We honor the Shakers’ belief in treating all individuals equally. Our warm welcome honors their legacies of community, integrity and equality, and enriches each visitor’s experience with a broad range of cultural perspectives and lived experiences from our home in neighboring Pittsfield – the largest and most diverse city in the Berkshires – to the national and international. We commit to making Hancock Shaker Village as accessible as possible for everyone.
Relevance is our charge
We celebrate the Shaker legacy, illuminating the past and making connections to the present that demonstrate our enduring relevance in a changing world. We believe that the Shakers’ embrace of sustainability and their dedication to simple, practical design are as important today as they were when Hancock Shaker Village was founded in 1790. Taking inspiration from the Shakers, who welcomed innovation and pioneered new technologies, we commit to pursuing all of our activities with their entrepreneurial spirit and willingness to embrace change.