Enfield Shaker Village

Enfield Shaker Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
The Great Stone Dwelling, Mary Keane Chapel and West Brethren Shop (right to left)
Location	NH Route 4A, Enfield, New Hampshire
Coordinates	43°37′13″N 72°8′49″W / 43.62028°N 72.14694°W / 43.62028; -72.14694Coordinates: 43°37′13″N 72°8′49″W / 43.62028°N 72.14694°W / 43.62028; -72.14694
Area	1,235 acres (500 ha)
NRHP reference #	79000198
Added to NRHP	November 7, 1979

The Enfield Shaker Museum is an outdoor history museum and historic district in Enfield, New Hampshire in the United States. It is dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of the Shakers, a Protestant religious denomination, who lived on the site from 1793 to 1923. The museum features exhibitions, artifacts, eight Shaker buildings and restored Shaker gardens. It is located in a valley between Mount Assurance and Mascoma Lake in Enfield.

One of the buildings, the Great Stone Dwelling, was the largest residential building north of Boston and is the largest Shaker building. When the Shaker community closed, most of the land that made up the Enfield Shaker Village was sold to the Missionaries of La Salette. The state owns 28 acres (11 ha) and 13 buildings, which is now the Enfield Shaker Museum.

The Shakers, or United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, settled on the site in 1793 along Lake Mascoma on up to 1,200 acres (490 ha). A meetinghouse was built May 1793 and a residential building was constructed in 1794. Subsequent buildings were made of granite with advanced stone masonry techniques, which was revolutionary for that time period. There were 132 members of the village by 1803, and by 1840 there were nearly 300 people.

Within the village was the largest Shaker dwelling and the largest residential dwelling north of Boston, the Great Stone Building. Built from 1837 to 1841 for the Church Family, it had four full stories and a total of six stories. Men and women lived in the building, but entered doors specific for their gender to separate quarters. It was designed by Ammi Burnham Young, who created the designs for the second state capitol in Vermont and was the first supervising architect for the United States Treasury. The granite stonework on the exterior and the slate roof were constructed by stonemasons from Boston. The Shaker brothers constructed the rest of the building themselves.