It was the third of nineteen major Shaker villages established between 1774 and 1836 in New York, New England, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.

[2] The Hancock Bishopric in turn was overseen by the Ministry in the New Lebanon commune one town over, on the New York side of the state border.

In 1770, she experience visions and revelations taught her that only by renouncing sexual relations could humankind ever achieve entrance into heaven.

After enduring persecution in England, the small group of Shakers, led by Lee, set sail for the New York colony in 1774.

[4] After the conversion of the prominent local ministers Joseph Meacham and Calvin Harlow from Canaan and New Lebanon, New York, and then subsequently Valentine Rathbun and much of his family from West Pittsfield, Massachusetts, many farmers in New Lebanon, Hancock, West Pittsfield, and Richmond, began joining the Shaker faith starting in the 1780s.

Others further afield, such as Samuel Johnson in West Stockbridge, Zipporah Carey and her mother in Cheshire, and Olive Miller of Hinsdale, also were drawn to the Shakers.

[11][10] Non-Shakers were impressed by the Hancock Shaker property—scrupulously clean, neat, and well-tended—and their innovations in farming, such as the round barn that attracted much attention (see description below).

Visitors also praised Hancock Shakers' products, including boxes "of beautiful workmanship" and garden seeds.

Approximately every four feet around the outermost ring was a trapdoor which was used to quickly scoop the manure from the floor into a pit beneath the barn.

The other iconic building is the large red-brick dwelling the Hancock Shakers built in 1830 served as dormitory housing to more than one hundred brothers and sisters.

[13] The dwelling, like the barn, shows the Shakers' prosperity, as well as their appreciation of the benefits of space, ventilation, and labor-saving modern conveniences such as water piped indoors.

Though the guests are no longer required to separate by sex while they eat, the event maintains its authenticity with its use of sermons, songs, hymns and reliance on natural and candle light.

The dwelling also has features unusual in habitations of their era; interior windows for borrowed light to illuminate an otherwise-dark stairwell, built-in cabinets and cases of drawers, dumb-waiters for moving food and dishes between the downstairs kitchen and the dining room on the floor above, an abundance of windows for light and ventilation.

It has 20 historic buildings with over 22,000 artifacts, extensive gardens, a working farm, and hiking trails, and runs craft demonstrations.

Several special celebrations take place throughout the season, including Baby Animals on the Shaker Farm in the spring and Country Fair in the fall.

Hancock Shaker Village was included in Bob Vila's A&E Network production Guide to Historic Homes of America.