Canterbury Shaker Village, New Hampshire

This is one of the most intact of the 18 major Shaker communities that were established in the USA. It was settled in 1792, and occupied by Shakers for the next two centuries. At its peak, in 1850, there were 300 residents in 100 buildings, on 3,000 acres. By 1905, there were 100 members, and ten years later there were less than 50. The last male member died in 1939, and in 1957, the remaining women elected to close the Shaker Covenant forever, meaning there would be no more new members. Though membership continued after that at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in Maine (the only still active Shaker Community left), the Canterbury group continued to shrink until the last member, Sister Ethel Hudson, died in 1992, at the age of 96. It has been preserved as a historic site since the 1960s, even while occupied, and opened to the public in 1980. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1993, and is maintained by an independent non-profit organization.