The Shaker village that fostered orphans for 165 years in New Hampshire

Canterbury Shakers’ 165-Year Mission Raising Hundreds of Orphans

The Canterbury Shakers built a world where orphans found home. Back in 1792, these celibate believers began taking in kids who had no place to go.

For 165 years, they raised hundreds of children until age 21, when each could choose to stay or leave.

Girls like Bertha Lindsay arrived at age 8 in 1905, finding "such a lovely, peaceful place" with kind sisters and apple blossoms. At first, only boys got schooling, but soon girls joined too.

By 1823, both learned in equal terms alongside practical skills.

The historic Canterbury Shaker Village in New Hampshire still stands today, where you can walk through the original schoolhouse where these children once found family.

Shakers Built a New Kind of Family From Scratch

Canterbury Shaker Village started in 1792 when Father Job Bishop got land from locals in New Hampshire.

This became the seventh community for the Shakers, Christians who shared everything, stayed single, and treated men and women equally.

They put their Meeting House in the middle of village life, with separate but equal spaces for brothers and sisters. Since Shakers couldn’t have kids, they took in children who needed homes.

When families joined, parents and children lived apart in community housing.

Kids Arrived Through Many Paths to Join Growing Community

By 1803, Canterbury had 159 Shakers split into three "families" or living groups.

Children came to the village in several ways: some with parents who joined the faith, others as orphans, and some because their dying parents wanted it.

The Dwelling House, built in 1793, had separate doors, stairs, and bedrooms for children and adults while keeping men and women apart. The Shakers saw these kids as key to their future.

Their first teaching began that same year, with basic reading and spelling for boys only.

Boys Got First Crack at Learning While Girls Waited

From 1793 to 1805, only boys got schooling at Canterbury. Paper was scarce, so kids often wrote on bark or wood scraps with pens made from goose feathers.

Boys learned practical skills alongside their ABCs, getting ready for trades they would need in the community. Teachers worked with each child at their own pace instead of teaching large groups together.

The Shakers wanted to give kids a solid foundation whether they stayed or left for the outside world.

Girls Finally Got Their Turn at the Writing Desk

Girls won the right to learn at school in 1805, though they only got one hour of writing lessons six evenings each week. This small step toward equal education was still ahead of its time.

Their lessons focused on writing and home skills, which the Shakers thought they needed for running community households.

Though limited, this chance to learn showed the Shakers were more open-minded than most people about what girls could do.

School Days Became Equal for All Shaker Children

The Shakers changed their school setup in 1817, giving boys winter terms and girls summer sessions. They built a proper one-room schoolhouse in 1823.

Both boys and girls now got the same 12-week school terms, which was rare for that time.

The school held between 30 and 50 students each term, and by 1847 they upgraded from bark and wood to real paper and steel pens. Children learned both book smarts and hands-on skills.

Bertha Found a New Home Among the Apple Blossoms

Bertha Lindsay was just 8 years old when her 18-year-old sister Mae brought her to Canterbury in May 1905, following their parents’ last wishes.

She stepped into the village during apple blossom season, where 95 women and only 5 men held a "song service" in the orchard.

Bertha later recalled the village as "such a lovely, peaceful place, and the sisters were so kind. " Many kids like Bertha came to the Shakers after losing their families or homes.

Two Sisters Traded City Life for Shaker Simplicity

Ethel Hudson, age 11, and her older sister Elizabeth left their broken home in Salem, Massachusetts in 1907.

They traveled by train and horse-drawn carriage to reach the peaceful Shaker village, swapping busy city streets for quiet country life.

When Elizabeth turned 20, she chose to leave and join what Shakers called the "World’s People. " Ethel stayed and became one of the last Canterbury Shakers, living there until she died in 1992.

Work and Prayer Filled Children’s Days

Boys at Canterbury learned useful trades like carpentry, farming, furniture making, and mechanics in workshops like the Brethren’s Shop built in 1824.

Girls trained in cooking, cleaning, sewing, and running the community in the Sisters’ Shop from 1827. All children switched jobs regularly so nobody got stuck with the worst chores for too long.

The kids helped create new things like an early commercial washing machine. The Shakers taught that all work was holy.

Coming of Age Meant Making a Life-Changing Choice

When Shaker children turned 21, they faced a big decision: sign the Shaker covenant and give up all personal belongings, or leave the community.

Many chose to stay, like Bertha Lindsay who signed the covenant right after her 21st birthday and wore the white Shaker bonnet for the rest of her life.

Those who left got the community’s blessing and often kept in touch with their Shaker family. The Shakers never forced anyone to stay, giving young adults true freedom to choose.

Government Rules Stopped the Flow of New Children

As government orphanages and formal foster care took shape in the early 1900s, fewer children came to live with the Shakers. State laws eventually blocked the Shakers from taking in more orphans.

By 1916, Canterbury had shrunk to just 49 adults with only 12 young women under 21. The Great Depression forced them to close their school in 1934.

When Brother Irving Greenwood died in 1939, the community became all women, with no way to bring in new members.

The Last Shaker Turned Out the Lights

In 1957, after months of prayer, the eldresses voted to close the Shaker Covenant, ending 165 years of taking in children.

Ethel Hudson, who came as a child in 1907, lived to become the final Canterbury Shaker before her death in 1992 at age 96.

The village became a museum that same year, preserving the buildings where hundreds of children once lived and learned.

The 1823 schoolhouse still stands as proof of the Shakers’ forward-thinking approach to raising children. Their legacy shows that chosen families can give children just as much love and opportunity as birth families.

Visiting Canterbury Shaker Village, New Hampshire

Canterbury Shaker Village at 288 Shaker Road offers guided tours Monday through Sunday at 11 AM, 1 PM, and 2:30 PM for $25 (visitors 25 and under free).

You can explore the village grounds and nature trails for free from dawn to dusk year-round. Weekend Schoolhouse tours are part of their Building Community series.

The Village Store and exhibits are open Monday-Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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