From Vermont, we moved to the Berkshires and the weather has been mostly rainy.  Karol and a friend who came to visit took a photo workshop and were off shooting with the group.  While they were gone I went exploring and visited a Shaker village in Hancock, Mass.  The Shakers started in England and moved to the US to escape persecution.  Some of them settled in Hancock in the 1780s and lasted until 1959, when the last three remaining sisters sold the farm and moved to a retirement home.  At their height, about 250-300 people lived in the village.  You can see more about the shakers and Hancock Village at:  http://hancockshakervillage.org/shakers/shakers-hancock/

Her are some pictures of the place.

This round barn was really innovative.  They drove the hay wagon to the second floor (there's a ramp in the back) and dumped the hay in the middle.  Then they had spaces to hold the cows around the outside circle and milked them while they were eating the hay.

Here are some of the living quarters.

The Shakers are famous for making Shaker furniture and other wood products.  Here are some baskets they made in one of the workshops.

They also had livestock.  Here are the three little pigs all grown up.

I know I have an effect on all the hot chicks, but this one kept giving me the eye.

This is an REO sedan they drove.  They liked it because it was reliable and could hold a lot of people.  I also learned that REO stood for Ransom E Olds, who later built Oldsmobiles.

The REO Motor Car Company was a Lansing Michigan based company that produced  automobiles and trucks from 1905 to 1975.  If you care, you can learn more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REO_Motor_Car_Company.