![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So much has happened in the last month that I should have posted about. I'm lame. You knew that. I'll dribble it out as time allows, but I might as well start with the most recent subject.
Baitcon was fabulous as usual. It really is a faulous group of people, some of whom I've known for decades (I'm old), some of whom I've finally just met (I'm lucky). However, I didn't get any pictures, because I couldn't be bothered to unpack my camera (again, I'm lame), except for a couple phone-snaps on the way out.
This is at the side of the road on the way to/from Baitcon. What is it?
It's the burned-out shell of the Great Stone Barn of the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society. Nearly 200' long, 50' wide, four stories high, it was the largest stone barn in the country, until it was gutted in 1972.
Mount Lebanon was one of the first and most important of the Shaker communities, but it died out in 1947 (celibacy not being a good long-term survival strategy). The land and buildings are now owned by the Mount Lebanon Shaker Village museum, Darrow School, and The Abode of the Message (a.k.a. the Baitcon landlords).
The Mount Lebanon Shaker Village has a master plan to build a new 50,000 sq ft museum and library in the shell of the barn, but for now it's a glorious (dangerous and unstable) wreck. In the meantime, the existing museum is closed. However, the nearby Hancock Shaker Village is open and thriving.
Leaving Baitcon, I turned that way on a whim; even as we were walking in the door, I swore it was just a little look-see. Meh, who am I kidding? After Louisbourg and Sherbrooke last summer, were we really going to pass it up? Well, we kept it down to two hours, and skipped some buildings we would have liked to have seen. Next year?
( moar pixs )
Baitcon was fabulous as usual. It really is a faulous group of people, some of whom I've known for decades (I'm old), some of whom I've finally just met (I'm lucky). However, I didn't get any pictures, because I couldn't be bothered to unpack my camera (again, I'm lame), except for a couple phone-snaps on the way out.
This is at the side of the road on the way to/from Baitcon. What is it?
It's the burned-out shell of the Great Stone Barn of the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society. Nearly 200' long, 50' wide, four stories high, it was the largest stone barn in the country, until it was gutted in 1972.
Mount Lebanon was one of the first and most important of the Shaker communities, but it died out in 1947 (celibacy not being a good long-term survival strategy). The land and buildings are now owned by the Mount Lebanon Shaker Village museum, Darrow School, and The Abode of the Message (a.k.a. the Baitcon landlords).
The Mount Lebanon Shaker Village has a master plan to build a new 50,000 sq ft museum and library in the shell of the barn, but for now it's a glorious (dangerous and unstable) wreck. In the meantime, the existing museum is closed. However, the nearby Hancock Shaker Village is open and thriving.
Leaving Baitcon, I turned that way on a whim; even as we were walking in the door, I swore it was just a little look-see. Meh, who am I kidding? After Louisbourg and Sherbrooke last summer, were we really going to pass it up? Well, we kept it down to two hours, and skipped some buildings we would have liked to have seen. Next year?
( moar pixs )
