Shaker Village – Holy Hill

The Harvard Shaker Village Holy Hill site, established in 1842, served as an isolated, elevated outdoor sanctuary designed specifically for the community’s intense spiritual rituals and sacred dances. The hilltop area featured a meticulously leveled half-acre clearing enclosed by a fence and lined with beautiful rows of maple trees. At its exact center stood the “Lord’s Stone,” a sacred marble marker that symbolized the spiritual heart of their worship space.

Shaker Village – South Family Sister’s Shop

This large wood-framed stucco building is imposing in its size and interior. A very similar-sized Brother’s Shop was once just behind the Sister’s Shop, but fell into disrepair and was removed in the 1970s.

Shaker Village – Herb Dry House

The Shakers in Harvard became one of the major producers of medicinal herbs in 19th-century America. By the 1840s, the Harvard community alone was selling nearly 200 kinds of medicinal herbs, along with extracts, powders, oils, and patent remedies. This charming building was made of stone due to the disk of fire during the drying process.

The Shaker Village

The Harvard Shaker Village today comprises 12 remaining Shaker Structures, a burial ground, and the Holy Hill of Zion, where outdoor worship once took place.

Shaker Village – Tailor Shop

Built about 1800, this small building was identified on Village maps as the ministry’s shop or just plain “shop.”

Shaker Village – Square House

The Square House is the cornerstone of the Harvard Shaker Village. Although it predates their arrival, Harvard and visiting Shakers revered it due to its direct connection with Shaker founder Mother Ann Lee.

Shaker Village – Second House

Built in 1795, three years after the first house was constructed, this dormitory dwelling cost about $2,000. It stood along Shaker Road next to the First House and the Sisters’ Shop to the north, and the Brethrens’ Shop on the north side of Maple Lane.

Shaker Village – Office Shop

Traditionally called the Office Shop, and more recently referred to as the Carpenter’s Shop, this building was built in 1878, and adapted for a residence in the 1930s.

Shaker Village – New Office

The New Office is the largest building in the Church Family, and its interior is largely unchanged since the Shakers left in 1918.

Shaker Village – Meetinghouse

The Meetinghouse occupied a central position in the Shaker Village and was one of the earliest buildings constructed. With a clapboard-sheathed exterior, granite steps, and separate entrance separated both by gender and for the elders—the Meetinghouse followed the design established by the Society.

The Declaration Then and Now

To celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary of its independence, the Harvard Historical Society is presenting a program in partnership with Freedom’s Way called “The Declaration Then and Now.”

Harvard Shaker History

Ned Quist introduces his new and comprehensive book about the Harvard Shaker Village with an illustrated talk.

Ezra B. Newton

Ezra B. Newton, who has for many years been known as the oldest Shaker in the country, celebrated his 100th birthday, at Harvard.

Beulah Cooper

Beulah Cooper’s parents had been followers of Shadrach Ireland for several decades before Mother Ann and the Elders arrived in 1781.

Abigail Cooper

Abigail Whipple Cooper and her husband Samuel Cooper from Grafton, Massachusetts, united with the New Light Baptists under Shadrach Ireland many years before Mother Ann’s arrival in 1781.

Susannah Daby

Susannah Worster married Nahum Daby in 1767. They had one child before her husband died in 1771…

Sarah Salome Barrett

Sarah Salome Barrett, from Lancaster, was still a child when she united with the Shakers. Ten years later she made an offering of one cow towards the building of the Meeting House.

Sarah Kendall

Sarah Kendall was the natural sister to Mother Hannah Kendall, one of the founding parents of the Harvard Shaker Village. The entire Kendall family from Woburn united with the Shaker faith, and hosted meetings for Mother Ann and the Elders in the early years.

Sarah Crouch

Sarah Sterns Crouch came from Littleton, Her husband David united with the Shaker faith soon after Mother Ann arrived in 1781. Sarah was reluctant to join.

Mehitabel Crouch

Mehitable Crouch, also called Hette, was the daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Crouch, and one of the few children who were raised with Shaker values from the early days of Mother Ann.

Mary Jewett

In 1779, Mary Cooper of Grafton married Aaron Jewett. She was frequently referred to as Mary Jr. as her husband’s mother was also named Mary.

Mary Esther Crouch

Mary Esther Crouch was the daughter of Mary and David Crouch, and united with the Shakers with the rest of her natural family in 1781…

Mary Crouch

Mary Crouch and her husband David were the parents of five children who worked hard to build the Harvard village…

Jonathan Crouch

Jonathan Crouch and his wife Elizabeth followed his youngest sister, Patience and his parents, Mary and David into the Shaker faith soon after Mother Ann and the Elders arrived.

Grove Blanchard

Elder Grove was associated with the ministry of Harvard and Shirley for more than fifty two years. Born as Babbit Blanchard, he was given his new name, Grove B. Blanchard, by the Shakers.

Elezer Rand

Father Eleazer Rand and Mother Hannah Kendall, the founding parents of the village, became young disciples of Mother Ann and the Elders when they arrived in Harvard, traveled with her until her death.

Deliverance Cooper

Abigail and Samuel Cooper raised their last two children, Deliverance (Dilly) and Beulah, in the New Light Baptist faith as led by Shadrach Ireland.

Deborah Prentice

Deborah Prentice was born in Cambridge, and sixty-one years old when Mother Ann and the Elders arrived in Harvard…

David Crouch

David Crouch and his wife Mary raised a large family in Harvard, six of whom became staunch supporters of the Shakers faith…

Caleb Crouch

Caleb Crouch joined the Harvard Shakers with his natural family at age thirteen in 1781, and so was among the small number of early Believers to be raised Shaker, at least in part.

Abel Jewett

Abel Jewett and his wife Mary moved from Rowley to Littleton, Massachusetts, where they raised their children.

Shaker People from Harvard

For over a century, the Shaker community in Harvard, Massachusetts, operated as a communal society rooted in shared property, pacifism, and equality. Utilizing archival records and manifest journals, we provide biographical data on some of the Harvard Shakers.

Bethiah Prescott Willard

Bethiah Willard is best known as the sister who leapt on the back of Father William during the horrific whipping scene that occurred in 1783.

Abijah Worster

Abijah Worster had many gifts as a Shaker. He was one of Mother Ann Lee’s closest disciples in Harvard and accompanied her in her travels.

Elizabeth Crouch

When Elizabeth Skinner of Stow married Jonathan Crouch of Harvard, they took up domicile in Stow, to raise their three children…

Aaron Jewett

Aaron Jewett and his wife Mary Cooper Jewett united with the Shaker gospel with their three young children soon after Mother Ann arrived in 1781.

Elizabeth Crouch

Elizabeth Crouch was one of the daughters of Mary and David Crouch. After her sister Patience united with Mother Ann and the Elders in 1781, she joined the Shakers with the rest of her family.

Elizabeth Robinson

Elizabeth Robinson, with her sons John and Oliver, was one of a significant number of Harvard Shakers from Petersham, and who were witness to the abuse Mother Ann and the Elders suffered there.

Shaker Documentary

Discover the enduring legacy of the Shakers, whose philosophy on furniture and community was remarkably ahead of its time

The Hazards

Joan Blue, a board member of the Harvard Historical Society, tells the history of her family and the town together.