Mount Lebanon Shaker Village is open to the public for tours through Labor Day, September 5. Village hours are 11 am to 4 pm Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. Free guided tours will be offered at 11:30 and 2:30 each day and will leave from the North Family Granary. Visitors will learn the history of the Shakers at Mount Lebanon and what the Museum is doing to restore the North Family.
A special tour of the Shakers’ Meetinghouse will be led by Shaker historian Jerry Grant on Saturday, August 6, at 11:30 ($15 for Museum members, $20 for non-members.) This incredible building is not normally open to the public. More special tours are available and can be found at www.shakermuseumandlibrary.org/events.
From 1787 to 1947, the Shakers at Mount Lebanon led the largest and most successful utopian communal society in America. From Mount Lebanon grew the now famous Shaker aesthetic of simplicity, expressed in their objects, furniture, buildings and village planning. The Shaker Museum and Library is currently restoring the site, which has been listed by the World Monuments Fund as one of the 100 most significant endangered historic sites in the world.
“We are delighted to welcome the public to Mount Lebanon to see this beautiful historic site and the work the Museum is doing to preserve and restore it,” said David Stocks, President of the organization. “The tours will offer insight into the ingenuity and commitment the Shakers had at their ‘Holy Mount’ to building a heaven on earth.”
The North Family at Mount Lebanon Shaker Village is located at 202 Shaker Road, New Lebanon. For more information on the organization, please visit www.shakermuseumandlibrary.org or call 518-794-9100.