By joining the Shaker community you gave up all worldly belongings to exemplify God’s world on earth. Foremost, as a rule, the Shakers were celibate. You would not marry. Men and women were considered equals, but they lived in separate quarters. Instead, your mind and body were preparing for God’s kingdom.

Saturday’s flash hike took us to Hancock to hike the Shaker settlement. Parking on Route 20 across from the Shaker Hancock Village the trail goes into the woods as part of the Pittsfield State Forest.

Continuing on our 6.7 mile loop we climbed Doll Mountain to the Holy Mount. A beautiful vista known as the Feasting Ground with perfect stonewall fences, a building seperated for brethren and sisters. Stone walls are 3 foot wide at the base, a 12-18 foot section would have taken one man’s labor in a day. It is estimated the stone fence surrounding the 45 acre Sacred Lot required 350 man-days to complete. At the southwest corner of the Sacred Lot is a spring and amphitheater. “…so that the voices of the united brethren and sisters, on a clam still day, may be heard by each society, rising, like the twin-mountain-tops from which the sounds ascend, toward the Heaven to which they alike aspire.” (1848)

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