Private Guided Tours

This event is no longer on sale.

Thursday August 20

10:00 AM  –  11:30 AM

EXPLORE THE VILLAGE WITH AN EXPERT GUIDE

Looking for a fun and enriching experience to share with friends, family, or a group? A private tour is ideal for families, individuals, lifelong learners, or those seeking unique adventure.  Inspiring instructors provide an insider’s view, with more than 200 years of extraordinary history in the making. Private guided tours are 75 minutes, with up to 9 participants.

FEES:

  • Adults $40 (members $20)
  • Children ages 3-17 $10
  • Not recommended for children under 3

CHOOSE YOUR DATE AND TIME:

  • Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 10 am. (Tour participants are welcome to stay after the tour to enjoy the Village.)
  • Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 11:30 am. (Tour participants are welcome to arrive early and/or stay after the tour to enjoy the Village.)
  • Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, 3:30 pm. (Note: The Village closes at 4 pm. Participants are welcome to check in early to visit the museum and shop in Shaker Mercantile.)

Tours are not available on Saturday, September 26, or Saturday, October 24.

CHOOSE YOUR TOPIC:

Farm Tour

Explore the magnificent Round Stone Barn and learn why it was the epitome of efficient dairy production. Meet all the animals born this spring and learn about various breeds. Tour the vegetable and medicinal herb gardens, which feature more than 75 varieties the Shakers grew.  We’ll also visit the Brick Dwelling to imagine the Shakers cooking, eating, living, and making herbal medicines in this magnificent residence, and we’ll take a quick trip to the Schoolhouse (not otherwise open this season). 

An American Utopia: The Shaker Practice of Equality

More than 200 years ago the Shakers embraced racial and gender equality, and those ideals continue to affect our contemporary conversation. Learn more about their views, and, curiously, why didn’t they vote. Tour buildings in the Village where Shakers lived, worked, and practiced the concept of creating a perfect society — one they hoped would inspire the rest of the world to abandon war, capitalism, and inequality.

Shaker Architecture and Design

Discover the ingenuity and thoughtfulness behind the Shakers’ masterful design and construction of buildings meant for communal living, worship, industry, and learning. This tour examines the layout and development of the Village, with a special focus on the Brick Dwelling and Round Stone Barn,  revealing the history and legacy of these fascinating designers who “managed to make objects so magically austere that they continue to astonish our eyes and our sense of form” (Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker).

REGISTER HERE (you'll choose your preferred topic on the next screen):

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