Enfield Shakers Historic District (Connecticut)

Enfield Shakers Historic District
Location Shaker, Taylor and Cybulski Rds., Enfield, Connecticut
Coordinates 42°0′42″N 72°30′57″W / 42.01167°N 72.51583°W / 42.01167; -72.51583Coordinates: 42°0′42″N 72°30′57″W / 42.01167°N 72.51583°W / 42.01167; -72.51583
Area 110 acres (45 ha)
Built 1827
NRHP Reference # 79002663[1]
Added to NRHP May 21, 1979
Shaker community
Community Enfield Shaker Village (Connecticut)[2]
Dates 1792-1917
Bishopric Hancock
Spiritual name City of Union
Families Church, North, South, East, West
Maximum population 215 in 1850

The Enfield Shakers Historic District encompasses some of the surviving remnants of a former Shaker community in Enfield, Connecticut. Founded in the 1780s, the Enfield Shaker community remained active until 1917. The surviving buildings of their once large community complexes are located in and around Taylor Road in northeastern Enfield, and were listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The listing included 15 contributing buildings and one contributing site.[1]

History

The Enfield Shaker community was the only Shaker settlement in Connecticut (others were in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky) and was significant for its garden-seed business. The Enfield settlement, was founded in the 1780s, and lasted until 1917. There were three distinct centers of development, called "families" by the Shakers. Some of their land was taken for construction of the Enfield Correctional Institute, a state prison.[3]

The district included all 15 buildings that survive, out of about six times as many existing in 1917. In 1978, the surviving buildings include a meetinghouse, a large brick residence, an ice house, five barns, a sawmill, a slaughterhouse, a laundry, and several workshops, in three village-like clusters. Most of these buildings date to the period 1830-60, when the community was at its height. These buildings, as well as a portion of Shaker-developed landscape are located mainly on the west side of Taylor Road between Moody Road in the south and Sandhill Road to the north. A few buildings are on Cybulski Road north of Moody, nearly surrounded by modern development.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ Stephen J. Paterwic. The A to Z of the Shakers. Scarecrow Press; 28 September 2009. ISBN 978-0-8108-7056-7. p. 63.
  3. 1 2 Bruce Clouette (June 21, 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Enfield Shakers Historic District" (PDF). National Park Service. and accompanying 14 photos from 1976-78
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