Today staff and volunteers reproduce Shaker chairs, oval boxes, baskets and brooms in the Brethren's Shop and rag carpets, linen towels and other textiles on the second floor of the Sisters' Dairy and Weave Shop. Visitors help make cheese and butter on the first floor. This unique structure was built to house the Shakers' dairy herd. Its circular design promoted efficiency in milking, feeding, cleaning and hay storage. Cows were stanchioned in a circle, radiating out from a central hay mow, which could be accessed on the upper level by hay wagons.
Walkways ring the building in front of and behind the stanchions, expediting feeding and milking.
Trap doors placed at intervals behind the stanchions allowed manure to be shoveled into the lower pit, which also could be accessed by wagons from the outside of the bulding. This building was constructed in 1835 as a tannery to provide leather for the shoemakers, harnessmakers and hatmakers within the community. The Shakers' extensive underground water system brought water to the cisterns. By the mid-1870s the building was put to other uses. A forge and cider presses were installed on the lower level, and the upper floor was utilized for woodworking and milling.