Brethren’s West Shop
1820
Throughout the Enfield Shaker Village there were a variety of structures that served as work spaces for the Brethren. One of these, the Brethren’s West Shop, was constructed in 1820.
Originally located in the second row of buildings at the Church Family, this building was moved to its current location in 1834 to make additional space for the Shakers’ “stone house.” The Shakers used this building as a workshop to produce a variety of items including scoops, ladles, farm tools, and grain measures. These small implements were both used by the Shakers in their daily life and sold to the World’s People for additional income.
From 1896 to 1923, the Brethren’s West Shop served as the home and workshop for Franklin Young (1845 – 1935), Enfield’s last Shaker Brother. During his time in residence, Brother Franklin used the first floor his work space and the second floor as his private living quarters. On the second floor, Franklin had his own retiring room, parlor, and one of the first modern bathrooms in the Enfield Shaker Village. A visitor to Brother Franklin’s quarters would have found a variety of Victorian furniture, both Shaker and non-Shaker, representing the aesthetic and social changes face by Shaker communities in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.