July 12, 2016 Hancock Shaker Village and into MA

July 12, 2016

Tuesday, July 12

57 degrees this morning at 7:15 as we head further east in New York.   Lots of farm land and we see green, white and blue barns for a bit, rather than the standard red.

Green barns on this farm

Pretty country as we head towards the Hudson River.

View of the Hudson

We take part of a River Driving Tour, which winds through farmland, stone bridges and fences, to Athens.  Everything in this area is from the 1700’s or older and reminds us more of New England.  The Athens Lighthouse is on an island in the middle of the Hudson River.

 We stop at CoHotate Preserve where we hike down to the river and learn about the Hudson River Ice Industry.  Before refrigeration, people harvested and stored blocks of ice in huge warehouses.  City dwellers depended on ice, and it was shipped by barge down the Hudson.  In the late 1800’s over a million tons was sold per year.  All that remains are crumbling foundations in this pretty grove.

 We are near the Catskills, but don't venture that direction today. Instead, we cross the Rip Van Winkle bridge and take the Taconic Parkway towards Pittsfield, which is on the New York/Massachusetts border.  We stop at Hancock Shaker Village, a nicely restored/preserved Shaker settlement founded around 1780 and active till 1960.

 The Shakers believed in Christ’s 2^nd Coming and worshipped mainly with song and dance.  (The dancing gave them the name “Shakers”.)  They also believed that work was a form of worship, so that everything should be done as closely to perfect as possible.  This is why their furniture, baskets, cloaks and other products were of such high quality!

The Shakers believed in celibacy, but they did take in abandoned or orphaned children, or sometimes accepted families with children as new members.  Hancock Shaker Village has over 20 different buildings, as well as gardens, barns, livestock, chickens, etc.  There were some folks in costume demonstrating various skills such as woodworking, blacksmithing, and basketmaking .  The centerpiece of the settlement is a large round stone building.

 

Looked for Charlotte's Web, but didn't see it.

basketmaking

beautiful quilting tradition

Beth doing some lathing

weaving area

Dormitory

The largest building was the dormitories with women occupying one half and men the other half.  There are meeting houses, a laundry, other dwellings where leaders and/or children lived, a dairy, and more.  Unlike the Amish, the Shakers embraced new technology, so they went from water power, to electricity, to solar!  Lots to see and learn about!

We planned to stay at the Chester-Blandford Campground but found it “closed for the season” when we arrived.  Instead we went down the road to the Sanderson Falls Trail which had a nice parking area at the trailhead.  

We walked to the Falls – well, Greg did, I gave up part way – found some interesting rocks in a nearby stream and slept well.