In February 1823 they began to build a windmill under direction
of Freegift Wells and ran it for the first in March. They used
it primarily for sawing wood so the journal entries then read,
wind blew hard - fine time for buzzing." In August they helped
the other families building a schoolhouse.
In April 1824 Aaron Burr visited them. In 1825 they bought a
mill from somewhere out the Mohawk Valley, in March rafted the
timber down the river; and in June began to erect it on Shaker
Creek where it enters into the river, having first to build a
dam. Heavy rains took out the dam in October, they mended it;
it again broke in January 1826. By March they were "sawing at
the river nearly all the time" while still using their windmill
when they had a strong wind. In October 1826 the windmill blew
to pieces.
The first dwelling is very likely what was converted into a
work shop or broomshop when a new dwelling was built in 1828.
A metal strip bearing the date 1828 is located on the upper floor
and over the stairs of the dwelling, and thus definitely dates
itr as does the early journal with an entry of May 12f 1828:
"Masons came and began the foundation of our new house." The 4th
tier of floor joists were begun on August 1st; the roof raised on
19 Aug.th; the masons finished their work on August 27th; the
Shakers finished glazing the windows on December 12th. The year
1829 was spent in lathing and plastering the house, making doors,
etc. The brethren began "dressing floor plank" for the house in
1830 January; began to lay floors on June 9th; the sisters began
painting and staining in the house on Sept. 14th; and on December
21, 1830 they finally moved in. (L^1j^^t*^--t*U*L -- ^Pt**^ ?&+&)
The main part of the dwelling measures 58'2" wide, 44*2"
deep; the wing in back 37 "9" deep and 32 '2" wide. The basement
is 9 ft. high, the first floor 10 ft., 2d and 3d floors 9 ft.
high, the garret 7'9" high. There were 4 bedrooms with closets
and built-in chests of drawers on each of the three floors of the
main building; two bedrooms with closets and built-in chests of
drawers on the first floor of the wing, a meeting room occupying
all of the second floor of the wing; open attics with built-in
storage drawers under the eaves in both sections. The
basement of the main part contained four rooms--one a kitchen,
one a bakery, and the other two storerooms; the wing held two
dining rooms.
In 1884r Elder Augustus (in Journal VB-326) tells of banking up
the T-part of the dwelling house to keep out the frost and water.
"Very poor foundation for such a building, only 2 feet under
ground." By 1886 the building was apparently considered
dangerous, so in March they had this T-part completely torn
down, the ground dug out to put in a full basement and the house
re-built above it. By June 30th it was completed enough to have
had the hard finish coat of plaster applied inside. On Sept. 19
they had their first meeting in their new meeting room in this
part. "It is just 6 months since we had last meeting in old
room. Our number is small but the feeling is strong."