'Please Touch' installed in bedroom once used by the Shakers.
PITTSFIELD - An interactive program called the “Please Touch” Room is a new permanent installation at the Hancock Shaker Village, which recently opened for the season.
Installed in the Brick Dwelling, the room is one that was an actual bedroom used by the Shakers, for decades, in the main dormitory-style building. The artifacts in it are reproductions of ones the self-reliant celibate community of men and women, used as part of daily life more than 150 years ago.
Todd Burdick, director of interpretation and public programs, developed the program, with Lesley Herzberg, the museum’s curator.
Visitors to the room may sit on the bed, open drawers, and basically live life as a Shaker. The Shakers, who supported themselves through agriculture, were also known for their innovations, as well as the simple, but handsome design of their furniture and tools.
“You can open the drawer of a sewing desk, for instance, to find items inside to explore,” Herzberg said in a release. “Visitors can even try on the Shaker clothes they find in the closet.”
The room's reproductions from the museum’s Education Collection that have been made available by an anonymous donor. Many were made by Shaker craftsman Marty Travis.
The “Please Touch” Room is open daily and included with normal admission. Adult admission is $18; youth admission (ages 13 to 18) is $8, and children age 12 and under are free.
About the Village
From 1784 until 1959, Hancock Shaker Village, known as "The City of Peace," was home to hundreds of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing (commonly called Shakers because of the whirling, quaking and “shaking” they exhibited during their religious services). Since 1960, the Village has operated as a living-history museum preserving the Shaker legacy.
Located on 750 acres in the Berkshires, the village has more than 20,000 authentic artifacts, 20 historic buildings in a preserved rural village setting, a rotating schedule of exhibits, programs and workshops, a working farm with heritage-breed livestock, as well as extensive gardens of heirloom vegetables, flowers and herbs. It offers a host of individual and group tours, a mile-long hiking trail, and picnic area.
The Village Harvest Café is open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.. The Hancock Shaker Village Store (also online), open daily during visitor hours, features gift items and locally made products.
Hancock Shaker Village is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, through June 30. From July 1 to Nov. 2, hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For more information: www.hancockshakervillage.org.