Hancock Shaker Village

This Thursday was the first day of Horizons at Miss Hall’s. As the Miss Hall’s website states, “Horizons is our experiential, off-campus learning program. Part of the academic program, Horizons gives Miss Hall’s students opportunities to volunteer and intern each week at social service and cultural organizations, businesses, and professional offices.” I was placed at Hancock Shaker village for Horizons this year. I was a little bit skeptical about what it would be like, but after the first day on Thursday, I can tell that I am going to have a lot of fun. 

Hancock Shaker Village is a living museum that continues the life of the Shakers Village. There are people dressed in Shaker costume who demonstrate the crafts that the Shakers performed while they lived there. They give tours of the restored dwellings and buildings, display the history of the Shakers, and if you visit, you can even learn a Shaker song or dance.

Now, I’ve told you all this about the “Shakers,” and just now realized that you probably have no idea who the Shakers are. The Shakers were originally a radical sect of the Quaker religion that became known in the 1760’s as Shaking Quakers due to their ecstatic worship practices. The name was later shortened to Shakers. Both music and dance play a large role in the Shaker worship services. They believe that participation in the worship service involves one’s whole body rather than just their voice.

For more information, check out Hancock Shaker Village’s website: http://hancockshakervillage.org/

Another big part of Hancock Shaker Village is their livestock, which is where I come in. I am volunteering with two other girls in the farms and fields of Hancock Shaker Village. So, we get to help take care of the animals for the whole school year. When we got there on Thursday, we were given a tour around the grounds and shown where we were going to be working. As soon as the quick orientation tour was given, we were put to work. The first thing we did was we cleaned out a chicken coop. Now, my brother had chickens for a few years, so cleaning out a chicken coop was nothing new for me. When the chicken coop was cleaned out and new sawdust was put down, we went on to collect the chicken’s eggs. There were some beautiful dark brown eggs with spots, and some light brown eggs too. We cleaned off the eggs that were dirty and put them away in the fridge. By this time we only had about thirty minutes left until the bus came and picked us up, so we were allowed to take out the baby chicks. They got to run around in the sun and grass until we had to leave. We got to pick them up and play with them and watch them play with each other. It truly made my day! 🙂

I had forgotten my camera, so the other girls that I am with took some pictures and sent them to me. Here are some pictures of the cute little chicks. 

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