{"id":27921,"date":"2026-04-28T09:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T13:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=27921"},"modified":"2026-04-28T09:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T13:04:16","slug":"hancock-shaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2026\/04\/28\/hancock-shaker\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Baby Animals Festival’ At Hancock Shaker Village"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On a recent sunny Saturday morning, Hancock Shaker Village<\/a> in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, launched one of the great rites of spring in the Berkshires: the village\u2019s annual \u201cBaby Animals Festival,\u201d<\/a> running this year from April 18 to May 10. As the trees blossomed, a parking lot of strollers formed around the Round Stone Barn. Family crowds headed inside to visit week-old piglets, new chicks, calves, and baby sheep and goats on the village\u2019s opening day of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Round Stone Barn, the dazzling icon of the village, is the only round barn ever constructed by any Shakers. Some 95 feet across, it was built in 1826, burned down to its stone walls in 1864, and rebuilt with the roof raised by the addition of a loft by 1870. Structural problems due to a failing foundation were addressed by a 1968 restoration. Wagons carted in hay into the top, which was tossed down to fed 52 milk cows on the middle level, while manure was collected below. Milking was moved into an addition built to adhere to new food safety regulations in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amidst all the Shaker\u2019s rigid straight lines, the barn’s roundness is a delightful surprise. Inside it feels embracing. Then you look up to the grandeur of the radiating halo of its roof beams. It feels like the practical Shaker version of a soaring medieval cathedral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, occasional newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9 Greg Cook 2026 or the respective creato<\/em>rs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lamb
Lamb inside the 1826 Round Stone Barn during Baby Animals Festival at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Sheep
Sheep inside the 1826 Round Stone Barn during Baby Animals Festival at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The 1826 Round Stone Barn at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Piglets
Piglets inside the 1826 Round Stone Barn extension during Baby Animals Festival at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Goats
Goats inside the 1826 Round Stone Barn extension during Baby Animals Festival at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The 1826 Round Stone Barn at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The 1826 Round Stone Barn at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Sheep
Sheep inside the 1826 Round Stone Barn extension during Baby Animals Festival at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Lamb
Lamb inside the 1826 Round Stone Barn extension during Baby Animals Festival at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Cow
Cow inside the 1826 Round Stone Barn extension during Baby Animals Festival at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Sheep
Sheep inside the 1826 Round Stone Barn during Baby Animals Festival at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Cow
Cow inside the 1826 Round Stone Barn extension during Baby Animals Festival at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The 1826 Round Stone Barn at Hancock Shaker Village, April 21, 2026. (\u00a9Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a recent sunny Saturday morning, Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, launched one of the great rites of spring in the Berkshires: the village\u2019s annual \u201cBaby Animals Festival,\u201d running this year from April 18 to May 10. As the trees blossomed, a parking lot of strollers formed around the Round Stone Barn. Family crowds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,582],"tags":[1391,1392],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27921"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27926,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27921\/revisions\/27926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}