Canterbury Shaker Village

Canterbury Shaker Village preserves and interprets the legacy of the Shakers who, in 1792, established this extraordinary New Hampshire community. Living communally and apart from “the World’s People” to practice their faith, the Shakers espoused peace, equality, and love. 

Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993, Canterbury Shaker Village is one of the oldest and best-preserved of the 19 historic Shaker villages established from Maine to Kentucky. Its oldest structures, the Meeting House (1792) and the Dwelling House (1793), are testimony to the Shakers’ craftmanship and dedication to communal life. Once the site of some 100 buildings, the Village today includes 25 original Shaker buildings, four reconstructed Shaker structures, and 694 acres of forests and nature trails, fields and gardens, and mill ponds protected by a permanent conservation easement. 

Each year, more than 20,000 visitors are warmly welcomed to the Village, where they experience the Shakers’ distinctive faith and its values of simplicity, caring, and community—values that are especially relevant in today’s world. 

The Need

Historic Buildings Paint Restoration

Paint is preservation.

A coat or two of paint provides years of protection for Canterbury Shaker Village’s historic structures. Painting a building’s exterior prevents moisture damage and decay, protects against ultraviolet rays and pollution, and wards off the effects of weathering while ensuring the integrity of its interiors and its contents.

When we paint the Village’s buildings, we are providing more than exterior protection and structural integrity. We are ensuring that these historic structures made by Shaker hands will continue to teach and delight visitors in the decades ahead.

As visitors walk through the Village, they see the colors the Shakers used in their spaces of worship, work, and everyday living. Visitors learn how the Shakers used color and light to represent their beliefs, define their community, and to reflect their values of purity, simplicity, and order.

From deep Prussian blue to greens, yellow ochres, and reds, to a variety of whites, the Shakers lived in world ordered by color and light. As a National Historic Landmark, Canterbury Shaker Village is dedicated to preserving and sharing the Shakers’ ordered world with visitors now and in the future.

A simple coat of paint ensures the Village’s continuing stewardship of this unique historic site. And we need your help to do it!

Why Support the Village?

People support Canterbury Shaker Village to:

Preserve history: Donations help to maintain and protect this unique historic site for current and future generations. The Village’s buildings and collections are valuable examples of early American craftsmanship and design.

Teach history: Financial support promotes historical knowledge of the Shakers as an important chapter of American history. Through educational programs, exhibitions, lectures, and workshops, Canterbury Shaker Village invites visitors to learn more about the Shakers and their place in American and world history. 

Create and sustain community: Donations enable and support generative social networks. Canterbury Shaker Village engages ideas, ideals, and people through shared stewardship with its members, volunteers, and visitors. 

Sustain the natural environment: Conservation, renewable energy projects, organic farming, and the Village’s commitment to sustainable practices will lower over time energy use. Donations are an investment in this sustainable future. 

Provide a sense of place: If you have ever visited the Village, you can attest to the sense of peace, beauty, centeredness, and continuity it provides. There is only one Canterbury Shaker Village. 

Ultimately, supporting Canterbury Shaker Village allows you to contribute to the preservation of history, promote cultural understanding, and sustain a vibrant community that values place as well as its past, present, and future.

Who We Are

Canterbury Shaker Village is dedicated to preserving the 200-year legacy of the Canterbury Shakers and to providing a place for learning, reflection, and renewal of the human spirit. Visitors are encouraged to learn about the life, ideals, values, and history of the Canterbury Shakers through tours, programs, exhibits, research, and publications.