According to a rumor that has circulated online for years, Tabitha Babbitt, a Shaker woman from Massachusetts, created the "first practical circular sawmill" in the early 19th century. The story of Babbitt's supposed invention appears in numerous social media posts on platforms including Instagram, X and Reddit as well as on hundreds of websites.
One such iteration appeared (archived) in a March 20, 2025, Facebook post that claimed Babbitt "revolutionized woodworking in 1810." That post, which had around 139,000 reactions at the time of this writing, read:
Tabitha Babbitt, a Shaker woman and skilled inventor, revolutionized woodworking in 1810 by creating the first practical circular sawmill.
Observing how traditional saws wasted energy with their inefficient back-and-forth motion, she devised a smarter solution. Inspired by her spinning wheel, she attached a circular blade, enabling continuous cutting with less effort.
Though Shaker beliefs prevented her from patenting the invention, her idea laid the groundwork for modern sawmill technology. Babbitt's innovation not only improved efficiency in lumber processing but also contributed to industrial advancements in woodworking. Her work remains a testament to the ingenuity of women in early technology, despite historical recognition often favoring male inventors.
Today, the circular saw remains a crucial tool in construction and carpentry, proving the lasting impact of her design. Tabitha Babbitt's pioneering spirit continues to inspire, reminding us that necessity and observation can lead to groundbreaking innovation.
The story appears in the book "Women of Invention: Life-Changing Ideas by Remarkable Women" and in a 2015 op-ed that ran in the Portsmouth Herald and argued that Babbitt "belongs in Inventors Hall of Fame" for her alleged creation.
However, experts say this story is likely not true.
"The short answer is that the Babbitt story is most likely apocryphal," said Dana Rasso of the Shaker Museum in Chatham, New York, although she noted that "the Shakers have a number of patents and were known for their ingenuity. Tabitha Babbitt herself was a prolific creator."
Rasso said in an email that she suspects the story originated in the 1916 book "Gleanings from Old Shaker Journals," compiled by Clara Endicott Sears. On Page 348, Sears described Babbitt as a "clever, talented woman, and an inventor, too." Sears, a "resident of Harvard," Massachusetts, wrote the following account of Babbitt:
One day as she was spinning, she noticed the brethren sawing wood in the old-fashioned way; she observed that one half of the motion was lost, and so conceived the idea of a circular saw. She made a tin disc, notched it round the edge, slipped it on the spindle of her wheel, tried it on a piece of shingle, found it would cut, and gave to the world the buzz-saw. The first circular saw made under her instructions is on exhibition in the Geological Building at Albany, New York.
Historian Christian Goodwillie demonstrated why this story was likely untrue in an article outlining the known history of the circular saw that appeared in the 2010 book "Inspired Innovations: A Celebration of Shaker Integrity." Goodwillie noted that the above account first appeared verbatim in the Shaker periodical The Manifesto in February 1899.
Goodwillie continued by stating that it was "unlikely that the Shakers invented the circular saw, despite numerous Shaker and non-Shaker printed claims." Although the Shakers were probably not the first to use the circular saw, Goodwillie added, they were "certainly early proponents" of the technology.
"As with many other important inventions in history, the circumstances surrounding the development of the circular saw are unclear," he wrote.
Babbitt (whose last name is spelled "Babbit" in some sources) was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, on Dec. 10, 1779, and was admitted to the Harvard Shaker community at 13 years old, Goodwillie wrote, adding:
The information about her invention was first published in the Boston Sunday Globe for October 30, 1898, as part of an article on Harvard Eldress Eliza Babbitt. Obviously, the Harvard Shakers supplied the information, but since Tabitha Babbitt had died in 1853, it could not be verified. The case for Babbitt as inventor was re-told by Anna While and Leila S. Taylor in their history "Shakerism: Its Meaning and Message." This reference has somehow found its way into countless other works on the Shakers, their inventions, and the history of technology in general.
Where does all of this leave us? It is safe to say that the Shakers did not invent the circular saw, but they do appear to be among its earliest users and may have created new forms and uses for it. Too often, proven Shaker innovation is marginalized in favor of unsubstantiated claims for Shaker invention. This is a disservice to a group whose more than two hundred years of success in this country is a tribute to their ability to alter, adapt, and improve almost every technology they encountered.
The evidence against Babbitt's supposed invention is robust, according to Goodwillie, who wrote that the first documented patent in an English-speaking country referring to a mill that used "saws, which are a circular figure" was granted to a man named Samuel Miller in Southampton, England, in 1777 — two years before Babbitt was born. Miller's patent, however, did not contain much detail about the saws.
Goodwillie also noted that "smaller, circular metal blades had been used in surgical instruments for many years prior to this date."
"Other than a series of vague references in secondary works on the history of saw technology, there is a dearth of primary source material about circular saws through the rest of the eighteenth century," wrote Goodwillie, who confirmed over email that the information in his article reflected the most up-to-date available scholarship on the subject.
Goodwillie also noted that Isaac Newton Youngs documented the history of Shakers in his 1856 book "A Concise View of the Church of God." That book contained no mention of Babbitt inventing the circular sawmill.