William J. Burns is a June 2011 graduate of North Bennet Street School's Preservation Carpentry program in Boston, MA. He has worked on many projects including window restoration at the Old State House in Boston, MA and completed many other restoration projects at five Shaker Villages across New York and the New England states. He spent two summers at the Mount Lebanon Shaker Village working exclusively on the 1829 Brethrens' Workshop.
He has volunteered with the Historic Albany Foundation, Colonie Historical Society, Friends of Pruyn House, Shaker Heritage Society, and Cambridge (MA) Historical Society.
After years of careful research, William discovered a Shaker tenant farmhouse in Loudonville, New York. Previously unknown by local historians and Shaker preservationists, it has since been identified as a significant part of the Watervliet Shaker Village, America's first Shaker settlement.
William was the preservation carpenter at Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, NH recently for over a year. He has now moved back to the Albany, NY area for more preservation work.