Page 22 - March 2022

Reconstruction, Renovation, Innovation
Originally stabling 52 dairy cows, the barn was rebuilt after a
devastating early morning fire on December 1, 1864. It burned so hotly
that some portions of the stone were converted into lime. Within a
week, the Shakers came to believe that it was the work of an arsonist.
The loss of the barn, adjoining sheds, 100 tons of hay, eight bushels of
provender, and six wagons contained within was estimated to amount
to $10,000, a tremendous financial blow to the community.
Improvements completed in 1870 included a flat monitor roof and
cupola, a manure pit, and a clerestory level below the cupola, providing
increased light and ventilation. Called a “banked barn” (because it is
built into a hillside), it offers ground-level access on all three levels and
a circular route – critical when you’re driving a large carriage with a
team of horses inside and backing up can be calamitous. The upper-
level balcony, spanning 75 feet in diameter, was used to unload hay; the
central level, to store hay and house and feed cattle; and the lower level,
to store manure until it could be transported to the gardens and used as
fertilizer. Gravity assisted the work.
The 1826 Shaker barn received loads of publicity, but the design did Interior of Round Stone Barn, photo: Hancock Shaker Village
not become popular until the turn of the century. By 1900, some and light the barn almost in every part. In 1883 the round barn was
agricultural colleges in the Midwest, particularly Illinois, pushed the “finished to perfection,” according to one Shaker, when they built a
design as they taught progressive farming methods based on industrial root cellar on the same level as the cattle.
efficiency; the interior layout, for example, allowed farmers to work in The sect maintained a working dairy farm at Hancock into the
a continuous direction. In the days before mechanization, laborsaving 1950s, when the handful of remaining Shakers decided they needed to
devices were a big seller. consolidate elsewhere, unable to run the vast property. The settlement
The circular shape also allowed 360-degree ventilation and light. became a museum in 1960. In 1968, Hancock Shaker Village
They were cheaper to construct than square or rectangular barns dismantled the masonry walls stone by stone and shored up the
because they required less material. Round barns at the University of foundations — leaving the timber frame structure intact. Once a new
Illinois, in particular, increased the style’s popularity, as the university’s foundation was laid, the masonry walls were rebuilt using the original
Agricultural Experiment Station started publishing regular bulletins stones. In 2008, paint analysis revealed that the exterior woodwork of
touting round barns in the Illinois Agriculturalist. the barn was painted yellow when the Shaker reconstructed it after the
The “Octagonal Era” stretched from 1864 fire, and in 2009 the paint was
about 1850 until 1900, and the fad spread restored to its original color.
to California later in the 19th century. The Shakers called their village the
There are about 20 surviving historic City of Peace and created an inspirational
round barns in Canada and several way of living with integrity while cultivating
hundred surviving in the United States – values of pacifism, racial and gender equality,
Hancock Shaker Village’s being the first and sustainability. The barn stands as a
one built in America. beacon to its legacy of exquisite design and
Thought by the Greeks to be a symbol agricultural innovation. “There’s as much
of balance in nature, the circle is a reverence in pulling an onion as there is in
powerful shape, and Hancock’s (which is singing hallelujah,” said one Shaker, and
on the National Historic Register) consists they did a lot of both.
of four large rings. The innermost ring is
used for ventilation, to draw the moisture Hancock Shaker Village is a landmark
up and out of the hay, which prevents destination of 750 acres, 20 historic Shaker
mold from growing and the hay from buildings, and over 22,000 Shaker artifacts
spontaneously combusting. Hay was in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. On the National
stored in the second ring. And on the third Historic Register, it is the most comprehen-
ring, the Shaker brothers would walk (and sively interpreted Shaker site in the world,
probably sing) to distribute the hay from and the oldest working farm in the Berkshires
the second ring to the cows. of Western Mass. For more information, visit
In the fourth ring, 50 or more cattle www.hancockshakervillage.org
were kept in wooden stanchions, which Author Jennifer Trainer Thompson is a
radiated outward from a central manger. museum director, author, and filmmaker. In
The cows stabled on the main floor faced 2017, Jennifer was named the Director of
inward toward the haymow for ease of The Round Stone Barn during a 1960 restoration, Hancock Shaker Village, a living history
feeding. Standing there, the cows could eat photo: Hancock Shaker Village museum dedicated to preserving the legacy of
while the brothers milked them. The floor the Shakers.
of the outermost ring is split level, with the inner part raised up 3 inches.
This was to prevent the milk buckets from being on the same level as
the unsanitary manure. The Shakers also developed a way of efficiently
removing the manure from the complex and using it for compost.
Approximately every 4 feet around the outermost ring, there was a trap-
door that was used to quickly scoop the manure on the floor into the
cellar beneath the barn. The storage area was accessible by wagon in
order to transport the manure to the gardens.
The original barn, with its tall, conical roof, provided ample
overhead space for men and animals, but the Shakers found that the
central part over the hay wasn’t high enough. So they fixed it: They
raised the roof (60 feet in diameter) over the hay and built a loft under
Aerial View of Hancock Shaker Village
the roof, which allowed them to put in windows all around the circle
20 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles