The Ruins at Sassafras Museum is the home of the former Shaker Second Family settlement, one of five Shaker settlements in The Mount Lebanon Shaker Village in New Lebanon, New York. We call ourselves a boutique museum because unlike other Shaker Museums that replicate the past, we have interpreted the past and creatively restored each location on the property.

You can tour the last standing Shaker Chair Factory, explore the ruins of the Sister's Workshop, Cow Barn, and Hay Ramp, hike to the cemetery where 173 Shakers are buried, and enjoy the beauty of our gardens, waterfall, stream and pond.

In 1787, Mother Ann Lee, the leader of the Shakers in the United States, expanded the community from Watervliet to Mount Lebanon. The community grew rapidly with new recruits and divided into family groups that consisted of as many as 100 individuals. The community survived for approximately 150 years and grew to 600 members.The Mount Lebanon Shaker Village is listed on The National Register of Historic Places. Each of the five families; the North, Church, Center, Second, and South Families, had its own dwelling house, workshops, and outbuildings.

The Second Family ran a successful seed business in the Brethren’s Workshop (now The Stone House) and constructed chairs, cloaks, quilts, and bonnets in the Sister’s Workshop. When fire destroyed the Sister’s Workshop in 1923, construction of Shaker Chairs moved to a storage building. That building is believed to be the last standing Shaker Chair Factory in America.

When you visit the Second Family Museum, you can travel by foot or golf cart to see what is left of the Shaker settlement, the graveyard, and artifacts. You can wander the grounds and experience Shaker ingenuity, respect for nature, and enjoy a glimpse into Shaker daily life.