Sen. Maggie Hassan spearheads effort to designate Canterbury Shaker Village a National Historic Area

CANTERBURY — This month, U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan visited Shaker Village to share publicly her effort to designate the site as a National Historic Area. Canterbury Shaker Village is a historic site that preserves the heritage of the Shakers, a Christian sect organized in the United States in the 1780s that espoused egalitarian ideals.

“I visited Shaker Village and saw how it provides visitors with an immersive experience that sheds important historical context on the Shakers and their unique way of life,” Sen. Hassan said. “Canterbury Shaker Village is among the oldest and most completely preserved of the Shaker Villages, and I am pleased to introduce a bill that takes the first steps towards designating it as a National Historic Area. The Shakers are a part of New Hampshire and America’s history – and Canterbury Shaker Village continues to help share their stories for future generations.” 

Sen. Hassan is introducing a bill to enact a study on designating New Hampshire’s Canterbury Shaker Village as a National Historic Area, which is the first step toward a potential designation. The selection of Canterbury Shaker Village as a National Historic Area would make the site eligible to receive up to $1 million annually in federal funds to support its operations.

Sen. Hassan has previously worked to preserve other historic sites in New Hampshire. In 2019, Sen. Hassan’s bill to re-designate Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site as a National Historical Park was signed into law.