Shaker Large Laundry Machine Shop Wood Building Stock Photography

The Laundry Machine Shop accommodated both Sisters and Brethren’s work. Equipment in the machine shop and washroom was powered by an overshot waterwheel and later by a turbine, fed by the Shakers’ extensive water system. The Laundry/Machine Shop may have begun as a dwelling dating to the 1790s, later adapted to a large utilitarian building positioned over the penstock, or incoming water supply pipe, from the reservoir. The post-and-beam structure is generally clad in clapboard like most building in the Village, with a stone foundation and wooden roof shingles.