Sanborn Mills Farm and Canterbury Shaker Village are proud to announce a new pilot partnership, bringing together two organizations rooted in land, craft, and community to advance a shared vision for the future of historic places.
Sanborn Mills Farm will actively farm the historic Shaker gardens, activating the landscape as a living system of production, education, and interpretation. Beginning this spring and continuing through mid-summer and into fall, visitors will encounter a landscape in motion—with vegetables and grains in production, draft animals working, and gardens in bloom. Visitors will be able to see experienced farmers in action and learn about specific crops and techniques. The strengths of Canterbury Shaker Village as a museum and of Sanborn Mills Farm as a working farm combine to create an experience that is both authentic and alive, showcasing a place that honors tradition and is purposeful and real.
This collaboration reflects a commitment to active stewardship of the historic site and honors the Shaker’s agricultural legacy. Together, the organizations will explore expanding educational opportunities, deepening visitor engagement, and demonstrating how working landscapes can remain vital, relevant, and alive. At its core, this partnership is grounded in a shared belief that these places are living environments where use is preservation, and where history continues through practice.
“We are pleased to join forces with Sanborn Mills Farm, an organization and community neighbor who shares our sense of stewardship and education. Their team demonstrates increasingly rare experience in traditional farming, which will help us to interpret the Shaker gardens in a real and productive way,” said Erin Hammerstedt, Executive Director of Canterbury Shaker Village.
Both organizations are excited about the land’s potential: “This is about more than a partnership. It’s about shared purpose,” said Michael Molla, Executive Director of Sanborn Mills Farm. “We believe deeply in ‘practice, not reenactment’—that work is the archive. Together, we have an opportunity to demonstrate what it looks like when historic places are preserved, and actively lived in, worked, and made relevant for today and for the future.”
This is a model for what mission-driven partnership can look like: one that connects history to practice, aligns values with action, and extends impact beyond the boundaries of a single campus.
There’s also a beautiful element of serendipity to this collaboration. Laura Dahl, Market Gardener of Sanborn Mills Farm, recently learned that her grandmother lived at Canterbury Shaker Village as a child after her family lost their nearby home to fire. The Shaker community welcomed them and provided a place to live until they were able to get back on their feet. To Laura, stepping into this role to steward the land into its next chapter, has been incredibly powerful.
The pilot marks the first phase of what both organizations see as a potential long-term collaboration. There is opportunity to not only grow in scope, but to serve as a leading example of how place-based institutions can work together to shape a more engaged and sustainable future.