Hancock Shaker Village (*BFV Part 1)

Maybe it was the world being shut down or masked up for two years for covid hysteria.

Maybe it was the Matt's workload was too heavy.

Or maybe it was the round stone barn (it was probably the round stone barn)

that made Matt suggest we take a vacation to see Hancock Shaker Village last year but WHATEVER the reason, the children and I don't need to be asked twice!

A VACATION!

A REAL VACATION!

A BIG FANCY VACATION!  (BFV, for short.)

Apparently, seeing this barn in person was something Matt had wanted to do for some years.  Something like "a bucket list" item.

I convinced him that since we were so close to a few other wonderful sights, maybe we could make another stop or two?  ( He said YES! Blog posts to come...)

But it was this barn that initiated the whole "leave the house on purpose" idea.

I took this overly bright photo because... I WANT ONE! 
Wouldn't it be neat to sell things on the side of the road with this? 

And as long as we are asking for things- I wouldn't mind one of these either!  ;-)
It would make the clothing situation around here so much better.

The living quarters for the whole community.  Girls on one side, boys on the other.

We planned our trip off-season, in the middle of the week and before school let out... which meant gardens were not prime (or even growing at this point) but the day was absolutely beautiful.  So hot, so blue, so perfect.  AND...we had the whole place almost entirely to ourselves.  And that was true of where ever we went.

Those Shakers got a lot of things wrong (no marriage?!  No babies?!?! It doesn't take a genius to see how that will pan out eventually...) but they got some other things very right.  

Their care of and for widows and orphans, their position on the evils of racism, their faith working out through their fingertips, the beauty that this can produce.  

Their barn was awfully nice too.