Discover & Learn

The Cart Shed, 1840

The Shakers built this structure in 1840, using granite posts to hold up the gable roof and vertical planks on its sides. It measures 110x25 feet. For many years they used the north end of the shed as an icehouse, and the center of the shed held farm wagons. In 1862, they installed five-ton Fairbanks scales in the south end of the cart shed in order to weigh farm wagons and, later, trucks; they rebuilt the scales in October of 1928.

In the winter of 1982-1983 the roof of the cart shed collapsed, and the structure had to be extensively rebuilt. Today it is used for special exhibits and storage.

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