Andrew Elder ©

In February of 2020, we purchased the Shaker Second Family settlement. We came from Newton, Massachusetts where we lived for 25 years and raised our two children. Jerome is a photographer and musician. Carol is a writer and flamenco dancer. We restored our home in Newton, an 1800s farmhouse and barn and loved the process of bringing a dilapidated historic property back to life. After our children moved out, we began looking for another project. Within five minutes of seeing our future home, we knew.

This is it!

A month after taking ownership, we began the design for the restoration and renovation of this historic site where over 67 Shakers lived and worked from 1790 to 1938. The Brethren’s Workshop, caretaker’s cottage, chair factory, and former dwelling ruins needed extensive work. Our love of history and restoration compelled us to preserve as much of the original buildings as possible, to use or repurpose existing materials, and to return the building façades to their original Shaker designs. We tried to find a place for every historic artifact we found on the property.

During the summer of 2020, as we pulled brambles, scrambling vines, and saplings from the lower property, we unearthed something amazing. Behind a nearly impenetrable wall of thickets were the ruins of more Shaker buildings. With the help of a local landscape construction company, we discovered the remains of the Shaker sister’s workshop, a barn, a hay ramp, an icehouse, and a dam. We discovered an underground water system the Shakers used to irrigate their crops. We discovered old plows, the icehouse tongs, oxen yokes, hundreds of shards of glass used by the Shakers and a perfectly intact bottle of Shaker Hair Restorer. As we collected our finds, one thing became clear to us.

Our treasure must be shared.

We decided to open a museum and host events in the historic spaces. We named the property The Ruins at Sassafras; The Ruins for obvious reasons and Sassafras because the Shakers grew Sassafras trees and used the roots for medicine. Plus we liked the feisty, fun quality of the name Sassafras.

— Carol Reichert & Jerome Shereda