Discover & Learn

The Carriage House, 1825

The carriage house was constructed in 1825 for storage purposes. It has two stories and an attic and measures 40x70 feet. The east side has three sets of double carriage doors, and the north side one set of double doors. The gable roof is covered with slate shingles.

Its large rooms held carriages, a paint shop, a wood house for the infirmary, a granary, and areas for storing medicines and lumber. The attic floor was used for drying herbs. In the 1840s, the garden seed business was briefly located here.

This building has changed little from its days of storing carriages and harnesses. The wide pine-board floors and walls bear the marks of this function. Large barn doors, complete with original hardware, still swing open to the large open areas inside.

Today the building houses exhibition space.

Source: David R. Starbuck, Neither Plain Nor Simple: New Perspectives on the Canterbury Shakers