Not only were the Shakers industrious, but they were creative and inventive as well. Their long list of inventions and improvements includes such items as the flat broom, the common clothespin, the first garden seeds pack aged in paper, and machines such as an improved washing machine, a revolving oven, and a wood-burning stove.
Although it may seem that shaker life was all rules, work, and worship, their lives were not without joy. They spent pleasant hours gathering berries and picking fruit, walking in the woods, taking carriage rides, and laughing together-in separate groups, of course.