Herb Garden & Drying House (1856)

Herb Garden and Drying House (1856). . , Shakers lived a seasonal lifestyle, structured around the cycle of planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops. Today, the orchard across Heritage Lane is the only remaining sign of Shaker agriculture. However, the fields were vast, and the Shakers were largely self-sustaining. Food grown on their own land fed the community, and surplus was sold in farmside stands and public markets. Many other crops were grown primarily or exclusively for sale to the public. Where the Albany Airport operates, the Shakers once grew a variety of crops including fields of roses, used to manufacture rose-water for sale., Shakers at Watervliet and Mt. Lebanon developed the practice of packaging seeds for sale in small envelopes. Harvesting, washing, drying, and packaging seeds and herbs became a major industry here, and many aspects of this work was undertaken by the women of the community. While the Herb Garden is not original to the site, it rests within the footprint of the Sister's Workshop. Several foundation stones are visible to the left of the garden gate. These plants reflect the wide variety of herbs grown, used, and sold by the Shakers. The small brick building standing near the creek was built as a drying house and later used by the Nursing Home as a creamery., [Photo Captions:] , Bonnet and Mold Iconic Shaker bonnets were fashioned from woven straw and shaped on wooden molds like the one pictured here. In 1830. Waterviet Sisters made 1,606 bonnets to sell., Sister Jennie Wells is shown at a loom at the South Family., The Sisters' Stone Workshop, built in 1840, was a large 3½ story stone structure. Activities performed here include spinning, weaving, and sewing; butter and cheese were made in the basement. This building was demolished in 1929 and the site is now our herb garden., Herd Press for processing culinary and medicinal herbs for sale