One of the few remaining laundry buildings in the western communities, the West Family Wash House (1842) is a frame building that employed Shakers in the tasks of making soap, weaving, and spinning, as well as the labor-intensive function of handling laundry chores for a large family of individuals. Windows provided a source of light and ventilation for these tasks.
Not only is the ordered life of Shakers illustrated in the segmentation of this work, but so is their emphasis on cleanliness as a reflection of spiritual purity.