Shaker Village – South Family Stone Barn Ruins

The Shaker South Family Barn was an early 19th-century, stone masonry, three-and-a-half story, gable-roofed structure situated in a gently sloping pasture adjacent to the South Family complex.

The unmaintained building began to fail in the 1960s. Once the roof began letting in water, the roof rafters rotted, and portions of the roof collapsed.  The roof had provided support for the tall masonry walls, which then began to also collapse.

The structure has been a ruin for a number of years, surviving in unstable and deteriorating condition. However, some of its most significant and striking masonry features still remain. The Harvard Conservation Trust, with grant assistance from the Bruce J. Anderson Foundation, a support organization of the Boston Foundation, commissioned a study to document and evaluate the structure’s current condition and to recommend a program for arresting the deterioration to the extent feasible and stabilizing the remains. The Trust holds a preservation restriction on the barn remains and 1.5 acres of land on which it is situated.

A 2004 study on the condition of the structure can be read by clicking here.

HERE is a video of the South Family buildings.