Farming was the mainstay of the Shaker economy throughout their history. Shaker farms were admired as models by the outside world. Even critics praised their excellent barns and buildings, and their well cultivated gardens and fields.

here was no art of architecture among the Shakers; no written statement of style. But, there was certainly a definite sense of purpose in the particular religious doctrine and social organization of this unique community which found a common form of expression in its building and design. Frank Lloyd Wright wrote that "the true basis for any serious study of the art of architecture still lies in those indigenous, more humble buildings everywhere that are to architecture what folklore is to literature or folksong to music . . . these many folk structures are of the soil, natural. Though often slight, their virtue is intimately related to environment and the heart-life of the people."

SHAKER DESIGN

In all Shaker craftsmanship--architecture, joinery, weaving, tool-making, ironwork, tinsmithing,--the basic standards determining design were simplicity and utility. "Let it be plain and simple," read the Shaker injunction, "of good and substantial quality, unembellished by any any superfluities which add nothing to its goodness or durability." This concept of goodness carried implications transcending mere competence in workmanship. As perfectionists and separatists the Believers strove to excel the world in temporal as well as spiritual things, and as members of a millennial order they sought not only excellence but the durability of the labor of their hands. "Do your work," Mother Ann Lee had said, "as though you had a thousand years to live and as if you were to die tomorrow."

In the Shaker mind, the best and strongest was also the plainest. Just as humility in conduct was one of the cardinal virtues, so was simplicity a controlling objective in design. Simplicity was one of the most important foundation pillars of the Shaker Church. Superfluity of any kind--carving, inlays, excessive turnings, veneers or other other surface embellishments--was not only useless and a waste of time, but also indefensible on moral grounds, suggestive of pride, pretense, dishonesty. It was wrong, the Shakers held, to strive for what the world called beauty when the first duty of Believers was to clear the wilderness of human misery and folly.

The second pillar of the church, utility, also had its basis in doctrine. In planning the socioeconomic structure of the community, Father Meachum had ruled that all things made in the church "ought to be made according to their order and use." In the spirit of that directive, the joiners and builders, the weavers and "indoor mechanics," sought such forms and techniques as would serve, with the greatest economy of means, the desired function.

Since the same artisans who planned and constructed the buildings were also responsible for the furnishings, Shaker furniture blended perfectly with its encompassing frame: the spacious, white-walled "retiring," meeting, and dining rooms with their lines of yellow-brown or blue peg boards along the walls. As "sacred places" never to be "abandoned to secular uses nor encumbered with useless furniture inappropriate to a place of retirement or worship,"they presented a monastic aspect. The pure, clean-lined forms which are the essence of Shaker design demonstrate how rare and precious is the legacy of this American folk.

SHAKER ARCHITECTURE

Records are meager on the names of the builders. With the exception of Moses Johnson who, in the late 18th Century, supervised the framing of several gambrel-roofed churches in the New York and New England communities, Micajah Burnett, under whose direction, in 1817-19, the East family brick dwelling at Pleasant Hill was erected, and George Wickersham, who is said to have designed the enormous stone barn at the North family in New Lebanon, the architects of the early Shaker buildings remain unknown.

In the arrangement of doors, halls, stairways, and rooms their buildings reflect the dual nature of Shaker organization. As it was a cardinal tenet that the sexes be separated, the family dwellings were built to allow for minimum contact between men and women. The typical dwelling had two entrance doors, two staircases, and separate halls leading to the sleeping chambers, or retiring rooms. Although there was a common dining room, the sexes ate at separate tables. Meeting houses had three entrances, one for each sex and one for the ministry. Shops were located with principle division of labor in mind: sister's shops (the laundry, dairy, nurse shop, etc.) were near the dwelling house; the brethren's shops (broom, cooper's, garden seed, medicinal herb, etc.) were farther away. The farm buildings, such as barns and mills, were usually nearer the border of the family domain. Even when the occupations required some collaboration, as in the herb industry, the sexes rarely worked together.

Shaker interiors provide striking evidence of the gift for order and utility. To save space, the joiners built drawers and cupboards into the walls. Rows of pegboard, six feet or so above the floor, were built into the structure of almost every room. In the refectory and meeting rooms, chairs were suspended on these pegs when not in use, making for order and convenience when cleaning. In keeping with Mother Ann's testimony that "there is no dirt in Heaven," the rooms were kept scrupulously clean. No pictures were allowed on the white-plastered walls giving them a quality of purity, simplicity and serenity. This quality was enhanced by the light flooding the rooms from many windows. Good lighting, heating, ventilation, and heating were matters of primary concern.

The first Shaker colonies were made up of nondescript farmhouses and outbuildings, with their adjacent lands--property donated to the cause by early Shaker adherents. As the societies came into what was known as "gospel order," however, systematic planning of houses and villages gradually altered the scene. The meeting house was built by the Church family, or Senior order, which was centrally located in relation to the other families.

The disposition of family buildings usually followed this pattern: the unitary dwelling, with its stone horse-block in front, faced the main village street; also fronting the road were the trustees' offices and store, the infirmary and the schoolhouse; secondary buildings (and sisters' and brethren's shops) stood behind and parallel with these, and the barns and outbuildings were still farther behind. The flagstone walks and side streets were laid out at right angles to the main street. Neat fences enclosed the square or rectangular dooryards. "It is considered good order to lay out, and fence all kinds of lots, fields and gardens in a square form, where it is practicable."

By the second decade of the 19th Century, Shaker villages had assumed a characteristic appearance. James Fenimore Cooper, in his "Notions of the Americans," wrote in 1828 that he had never seen, "villages so neat and so perfectly beautiful, as to order and arrangement without, however, being picturesque or ornamented, as those of the Shakers." A prominent lawyer, Robert Wickliffe, told the Kentucky Senate, in 1831, that "in architecture and neatness" the Shakers "are exceeded by no other people on earth." John Finch, an English economist, reported in 1844 that the Shaker community "is a handsome, well built town, with wide streets, laid out regularly at right angles; the houses, factories, workshops, agricultural buildings, and public buildings, all large and well-built<­>the whole surrounded with beautiful and well-cultivated kitchen and flower gardens, vineyards, orchards, and farms, the very best that are to be seen in the United States.

Although, in theory, uniformity was "comely," in practice the Shaker artisan was left relatively free to fabricate machines, buildings or furniture which he felt would best express a principle, or fit a need. And though all craftsmanship had to avoid the appearance of "vain show," the freedom to experiment in the interest of betterment saved Shaker architecture from the blight of institutionalism or stereotype.

The Shakers' ability to construct buildings according to their order and use does not wholly explain the distinct quality of their architecture. Their faith, a Shaker elder once said, was a compound of "science, religion and inspiration." Labor was worship. The spirit in which they "put their hands to work and their hearts to God," comes through everything they made. Their work was an inspiring achievement.

Find out more about the Round Stone Barn.

The correlation between the workers' faith and their work is clearly demonstrated in the manner of Shaker buildings. As communitarians, the efforts of joiners, masons, carpenters, and mechanics were directed to community needs. The large brick structure in the background is the meeting house for the gathering novitiate. The small building in the foreground is a communal wash house.

The typical dwelling had 2 entrance doors, 2 staircases, and separate halls leading to the sleeping chambers. As it was important that the sexes be separated, the family dwellings were built to allow for minimum contact between brethren and sisters.

Shaker interiors show striking evidence of the "gift" for order and utility. To save space, drawers and cupboards are built into the walls. A row of peg board surrounds every room; chairs were often hung from the pegs when not in use, making for order and convenience in cleaning. Floors were stained and polished.

All things, from the color of paint to the planning of the village as a whole, were conceived in terms of order and good use. The use of native materials--stone, brick, and wood--combined with native skills produced an anonymous, vernacular architecture.

The architects of the early Shaker buildings remain unknown. Most of the important structures were cooperative undertakings. They were certainly raised and financed by inter-community effort. When the branch leadership reported to the central ministry, they referred to themselves as "brethren" or "joiners," the terms being interchangeable.

The barn's footings were never quite adequate for the weight they bore and they were further weakened by the excavation of the manure pit in 1865. As early as 1910, ominous cracks began to appear in the building's massive walls. By the 1940s, after being patched and repatched, a large section of the wall was dismantled and replaced by wood.

The barn as it stands today is a testament to public-spirited concern to preserve the landmarks of the past, as much as it is the embodiment of the ingenuity of its builders. It was fully restored in 1968.

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©Roger and Susannah Shepherd