Canterbury Shaker Village

Canterbury Shaker Village is a historic site and museum in Canterbury, New Hampshire. It was one of a number of Shaker communities, and it is counted among the most intact and authentic Shaker sites that survive. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993.

A non-profit organization set up in 1969 runs the site. It looks after 27 original Shaker buildings, four reconstructed ones and 694 acres of forests, fields, gardens and mill ponds that are under a permanent conservation easement. Its stated mission is to preserve the 200-year legacy of the Canterbury Shakers and to offer a place for learning and reflection.

In 1782, two Shakers from the Mount Lebanon village traveled to Canterbury and converted several prominent local figures, including families who later donated land. The village was founded in 1792. In 1803 it had 159 members in three families. By 1850 the community had 300 people living in 100 buildings on 3,000 acres. Canterbury and the Shaker village of Enfield together formed the New Hampshire Bishopric, an administrative unit of the Shaker society.

The Shakers of Canterbury adopted outside inventions as they appeared. Telephones arrived in 1901, and a powerhouse built in 1910 first lit sixteen community buildings. They also made their own inventions: they patented a washing machine that won a gold medal at the Centennial Exposition in 1876. Music mattered too, and between 1842 and 1908 the Canterbury Shakers published eleven hymnals.

Membership shrank over the 20th century. In 1957 the leaders of the Shaker society, based at Canterbury, voted to close the covenant that new members had to sign, so no one else could join. By 1980 the village was already open to visitors as a historic site, and by 1992 the last Shaker living at Canterbury had died. Today it keeps their story as a museum.