Shaker Church Family General Views, State Route 4A, Enfield, Grafton County, NH

Significance: The Shaker community was established at Enfield in 1782 when missionaries from the Mt. Lebanon community converted several families in the Mascoma Valley. Over a period of ten years, these families met in the home of James Jewitt on the east side of Mascoma Lake. In 1792, the Enfield Shakers decided to consolidate their holdings and bought land on the west shore of Mascoma Lake. Here they built a communal village of other Shaker settlements. The meetinghouse (1793) and dwelling house (1794) were the first buildings constructed, then the barns shops and mills. Water from the adjacent hillside powered numerous mills for sawing lumber, milling flour, and tanning leather. By 1815 three families, as they were called by the Shakers, had been organized along the shore: The Church, South and North families. The Enfield Shakers prospered throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. Farming was the principal industry. The Shakers developed excellent herds of cattle and sheep as well as extensive gardens for growing seeds and medicinal herbs. The seed industry brought them income from the "world," and won respect for the quality of their products. They produced items such as rakes, scythes, brooms, measures, spinning wheels, and knitted items for use and sale to the "world." The Enfiled Shakers were known for extensive projects, notably the construction of the Church Family Stone Dwelling in 1837 and the Shaker Bridge which crossed Mascoma Lake. Large barns, mills, and shops marked the Shaker villages with a material success unequalled by any other group in the Upper Connecticut River Valley. The Enfield community closed and the property was sold to The Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette in 1928.
Survey number: HABS NH-190
Building/structure dates: 1792-1794 Initial Construction