603 INFORMER / WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
Peter’s Rock Piles Solving a Shaker mystery
STORY AND PHOTOS BY MARSHALL HUDSON
I
’m a mile into the woods behind Canterbury Shaker Village, looking at an impressive collection of rock piles. The size of the trees and age of the surrounding forest mean that these rock piles predate motorized equipment. The piles are stacked with the perfection of a skilled stonemason and in shapes that suggest an artist at work. There are piles shaped like giant wedges, a fort, haystacks and a giant meatball. Some of the rocks are too big and heavy for any human to have moved unaided. Smaller ones are laid like mortarless bricks with staggered joints and a vertical plumb face. The labor expended in gathering and constructing these stone piles looks daunting to me, and must have been done for an important reason. I’m wondering who constructed them and why? The answers are found in old records back at Shaker Village.
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nhmagazine.com | August 2021
Peter Ayers was born in 1760 and fought in the American Revolutionary War as a teenage soldier. At only 14 years old, Ayers participated in the battle of Bunker Hill. At age 17, he was with General Washington’s army at Saratoga when British General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne was forced to surrender in 1777. Ayers was also at the siege of Yorktown in 1781 when Lord Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending the war. After the war, Ayers seems to have drifted. Records show him living in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and with his father in Upstate New York. His occupation is listed as farmer, hatmaker, fur trapper, or engaged in the business of hauling lumber. He is also described as a prizefighter and it was written that, “As a boxer he would be obliged to travel far to find his equal.” Ayers’ physical appearance is described as “quite
These large piles of rocks not far from Canterbury Shaker Village predate motorized equipment.
short and thickset and having a large head,” which are not typically optimal traits for a successful boxer, but Ayers is also described as “having remarkable physical endurance.” While wandering about war-weary New England seeking a new life, Ayers became acquainted with Mother Ann Lee, the founder of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers. They were called this because of the ecstatic dancing and trembling they practiced while worshiping. The Shakers believed in simplicity, gender equality, pacifism, communal living, and that hard work glorified God. They opposed marriage and believed in total celibacy, relying on converts to keep their population growing. After years of war and perhaps seeking a more peaceful way of life, Ayers began visiting Shaker communities and decided to embrace the Shaker faith. Ayers entered the Mount Lebanon Shaker Society in New York in 1787 and turned over all his worldly goods to the society. A story is recorded that, soon after the former soldier and boxer converted, he
