Discover & Learn

The Syrup Shop, 1785/1840

The 22x24-foot center of this building appears to be the oldest standing pre-Shaker building at Canterbury. From 1775-1782, it was probably either the residence of or a granary for Benjamin Whitcher, who donated his property to the Shakers after they began arriving in 1783. This structure originally stood northwest of the North Shop, and the Shakers moved it to its current location around 1840.

The building became known as The Distillery, and it was used for the production of medicinal syrups, most notably Thomas Corbett's Compound Concentrated Syrup of Sarsaparilla, which claimed to be "The Great Purifier of the Blood and other Fluids of the Body." In 1876, the Shakers won gold medals for the syrup at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, the nation's first World's Fair.

The Shakers added 13 feet to the north end of the building in 1847 and 18 feet to the south end in 1848, where they bottled and packed the syrup. The sarsaparilla kettles were taken out in 1919 and 1920, and they added a brick, wood-burning stove for use in the canning business, which continued here until 1958. During this period the Shaker artist Sister Cora Helena Sarle (1867-1956) used the southernmost room on the second floor as a painting studio.

The second floor has been in continuous use from the early 1800s through the beginning of the 21st century, drying the many herbs and flowers grown in the Shaker gardens. Today, the building is open for self-guided tours.

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