Wild life has been scarce on this trip. Apart from a few foxes, a few deer and a hedgehog we have seen no forest wildlife. In particular we have been disappointed not to see any moose. So when we saw some brightly painted moose statues this morning while driving through Bennington, VT we could not resist. We had to stop and take photos of the only mooses of the trip.

Nina's compulsive researching of things to see netted us a gem today, The Hancock Shaker Village near Pittfield, MA. The Shakers were (are?) a utopian religious group founded by an English woman (Anne Lee) in the mid 1700s who among other things believed in equality and celibacy, and set up a number of villages or communities where the followers lived a communal life style. The Hancock village was established in 1783 and operated as a working village until 1960 when it was sold to a not for profit company that now runs it as an historical park. The Shakers were expert farmers, gardeners and craftsmen (and crafts women), using and devising advanced farming techniques (like the circular stone barn in the photos above) and sophisticated water powered tools. I found the place fascinating. I was particularly captivated touring the in-tact kitchens and food storage facilities that in its hey day fed over a 100 people at a sitting.

Incidentally, they were called Shakers because they shook and trembled during their religious services.

Late in the afternoon we found a treed camping spot beside the Housatonic River just outside West Cornwall, CT.