Canterbury Shaker Village, New Hampshire
The last Shaker sister at Canterbury Village died in 1992, ending centuries of tradition in New Hampshire.
This religious group lived without marriage, shared everything they owned, and made some of the finest furniture America has ever seen.
Today, their empty buildings remember a life most people never knew existed.
Here’s what happened in between.
Missionaries Who Converted Local Farmers
Israel Chauncey and Ebeneezer Cooley journeyed from Mount Lebanon, New York to Canterbury in 1782. The men sought converts among Christian farmers searching for deeper spiritual fulfillment.
Several prominent local families embraced Shakerism, including the Whitchers, Wiggins, and Sanborns.
Benjamin Whitcher built his farmhouse between 1775 and 1782, later contributing this property to form the foundation of the new village.
Core Beliefs That Shocked America
Canterbury Shakers rejected mainstream American values in favor of radical equality.
Men and women held equal authority in both spiritual and practical matters during an era when women couldn’t even vote.
Members practiced celibacy and surrendered personal property, creating a communal lifestyle that shared all resources.
Work became sacred – every chair crafted, seed planted, or meal prepared counted as an act of worship.
Physical movement during worship earned them their nickname.
Believers danced, stomped, shook, and sang during religious services, creating a stark contrast to the reserved Protestant worship of their neighbors.
Growth Into A Community Of 300
Canterbury Shaker Village reached 159 members organized into three “families” by 1803. These administrative units lived in separate dwelling houses, sharing work and worship while maintaining the strict gender separation central to Shaker life.
Membership peaked at 300 people by 1850. Their landholdings expanded to 3,000 acres of farms, forests, and waterways that sustained their increasingly self-sufficient community.
Wealth accumulated through hard work and business savvy. By the 1830s, Canterbury Shakers owned numerous buildings, land, woodlots, livestock, and thriving industries that funded their vision of heaven on earth.
The Meeting House Built In Silence
Moses Johnson supervised construction of the first Canterbury Shaker building in 1792. The master builder, born in 1752, directed workers maintaining reverent silence as they erected the distinctive gambrel-roofed structure.
Men and women entered through separate doors on opposite sides of the building. Inside, two stairways led brothers and sisters to second-story sleeping lofts, maintaining gender separation even in this shared worship space.
Plain wooden benches lined the walls of the open central room. Members removed these furnishings for worship services, creating space for the energetic dancing that defined Shaker religious expression.
The 56-Room Dwelling With A Paul Revere Bell
Workers completed the Dwelling House in 1793, making it the second building at Canterbury. The T-shaped structure eventually expanded to 56 rooms housing the growing community of believers.
Four bedrooms on the second floor maintained strict gender separation. Two rooms accommodated elders while sisters and brethren slept in separate quarters at opposite ends of the building.
Sister Ethel Hudson lived in this same dwelling until her death in 1992. Her passing coincided with the community’s 200th anniversary, marking two centuries of continuous Shaker presence in Canterbury.
Gold-Medal Winning Inventions
Canterbury Shakers developed a washing machine that won gold at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. This practical innovation reduced the physical burden of laundry day for sisters across all Shaker communities.
Electric lights illuminated 16 community buildings after 1910. Canterbury spent $8,000 building their own powerhouse, bringing electricity to the village before New Hampshire’s state capital enjoyed this modern convenience.
A shiny REO automobile arrived in 1907. Brother Irving Greenwood insisted on purchasing one of New Hampshire’s first cars, dramatically reducing travel time between Canterbury and nearby Concord.
Businesses Built On Quality Products
Thomas Corbett created medicines that sold nationwide for six decades.
The Canterbury physician, born in 1780, developed a popular sarsaparilla-syrup compound that generated steady income for the community until his death in 1857.
Henry Blinn established a printing operation serving all northern Shaker communities. His shop produced the monthly Manifesto publication along with numerous books, pamphlets, and hymnals central to Shaker worship.
Canterbury workshops turned out tens of thousands of flat brooms. First Lady Frances Cleveland created demand for the “Dorothy Cloak” by wearing this Canterbury-designed silk-lined hooded cape at her husband’s presidential inauguration.
Hymns That Captured Shaker Spirit
Canterbury Shakers published eleven different hymnals between 1842 and 1908. These collections preserved songs composed through divine inspiration, which members believed came directly from heaven.
“Celestial Praises” emerged as one of their most significant hymns in 1841. Composers created distinctive songs like “We Will All Go Home with You” (1862) that captured the community’s spiritual experiences.
Singers performed without instrumental accompaniment in single-line unison.
Decline After The Civil War
Canterbury’s population dropped to 100 members by 1905. Industrial America offered young people different opportunities, making recruitment increasingly difficult for a community requiring celibacy.
Only 49 Shakers remained by 1916 – 47 women, 2 men, and 12 girls under age 21. One non-Shaker had lived among them for seven years, helping with work as membership declined.
Brother Irving Greenwood died in 1939, leaving Canterbury without male members.
Eldresses Gertrude, Emma, and Ida closed the Shaker Covenant to new members in 1957 after months of prayer, locking the membership document in their safe.
The Last Sisters Of Canterbury
LIFE magazine photographer Nina Leen documented 16 remaining sisters in 1947.
Her images captured women ranging from 43 to 80 years old maintaining Shaker traditions as their numbers dwindled.
Bud Thompson arrived in the late 1950s seeking traditional Shaker songs. The elderly sisters invited his family to move into the village in 1959, helping maintain the property and guide visitors through buildings that once housed hundreds.
Eldress Bertha Lindsay died on October 3, 1990, at age 93.
Sister Ethel Hudson, the final Canterbury Shaker at age 96, passed away in September 1992, ending the living Shaker presence in a community founded two centuries earlier.
Visiting Canterbury Shaker Village
Canterbury Shaker Village welcomes visitors at 288 Shaker Road in Canterbury, New Hampshire. The museum opens May through November, Thursday to Sunday from 10am to 4pm.
Three guided tours run daily: “Shaker Stories,” “Innovations & Inventions,” and “Hale & Hearty.”
The village sits 20 minutes from Concord, 30 minutes from Manchester, and 75 minutes from Boston.
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