This is an excerpt from NewHampshire Magazine article called “No Missisng Pieces” about the Intentional communities that are cropping up and the animist philosophy behind some of them.
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On the west end of Peterborough, there’s a large parcel of “undeveloped” land: some woods, some open fields and the former site of a once-popular inn. This isn’t a community yet, but just wait a couple of years.
Sherry Hulbert stands in what used to be the inn’s parking lot, and unrolls a plan on the hood of her car. This is a proposed map of the Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm, a community that will include 29 units of housing, a working farm and woodlands. “The idea is that the farm and community will be mutually beneficial neighbors,” she says. Hulbert is a farmer herself; she, her husband, and another couple are the project’s organizers.
The community is designed to enhance neighborhood interaction and minimize environmental impact. The homes will be clustered in one corner of the 113-acre site. The units will share a single heating system and a Common House with room for meetings and gatherings. Parking is on the periphery; no vehicles will be allowed within the neighborhood. “That is probably the biggest thing that culls people,” says Hulbert. “Can they imagine not driving right up to their house, especially in bad weather?” It’s not for everyone, but Hulbert only needs to fill 29 homes. Eighteen are already spoken for, and she is confident the community will be fully populated by the spring of 2008, when all the construction will be done.
Nubanusit will be an “intentional community” — a gathering of residents who share a common vision. There are a wide variety of intentional communities; cooperatives, residential land trusts, communes. The vision can be social, political, philosophical or religious — and it can be moderate or extreme.
Somewhere in the woods of New Hampshire lives the “Tribe of Dirt,” another would-be intentional community. Right now, it’s a single family living in a cabin, but its intent is to form a “committed extended family living together, adapting together and making a living together,” according to the Tribe’s website.
The Tribe of Dirt rejects modern economic, social, religious and political structures. Its name is a reminder of humanity’s place in the web of life: “We are of the same material as the rest of the animals, vegetables, minerals, et al of the world.” The Tribe has turned its back on what it sees as a bloated, dysfunctional world, and seeks to establish a completely independent life. Indeed, I quote from the Tribe’s Web site because its members did not respond to my inquiries.
The Nubanusit Farm and the Tribe of Dirt may not have much in common, but they both spring from the human need for community — for a feeling of connection that reaches beyond immediate family. This need has been expressed in many different ways over time.
MicroCommunities
Animist Dawn Survival Community, Hillsborough (Forming)
Founded by a Passamaquoddy Indian, the community consists of one man, one woman and three children. The community is polygamous and seeks more women who wish to be part of the family.
Cold Pond Community Land Trust, Acworth
A reserve of 275 acres for low to middle income families who wish to derive a livelihood from farming in a community setting. Population is currently around 20 adults and children.
D Acres of New Hampshire Dorchester
An idealistic organic farm and homestead with a vision to produce a simple yet comfortable standard of living involving conservation and reduced fossil fuel consumption. Six adults and open to more.
Dancing Bones, Wentworth
Small cabins and sustainable life in harmony with the Earth on a 40-acre land trust. Ten members and open to all ages and genders.
MorningSun Community Temple (Forming)
Planning to be an educational center and residential community developing the practice of mindfulness and sustainable living to address the needs of society and the world.
Namasté Greenfire Center Barnstead (Forming)
Freethinkers and activists are welcome to a spiritually focused circle seeking empowerment, personal transformation and cultural evolution. Six adults and one child, open to new members.
Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm Steele Road, Peterborough (Forming)
Co-housing project of 29 environmentally designed homes, a Common House, office space, a working farm and woodlands with walking trails on 113 acres.
Pinnacle Project Lyme (Forming)
Multi-age intentional neighborhood, rural setting but 10 miles from Dartmouth College. Sixteen year-round living suites in a common house and 20 rustic cabins on 120 acres.
Tribe of Dirt (town not given) (Forming)
A tribal vision of a heroic extended family living and adapting together to create a legacy of cradle-to-grave security for future generations. Especially seeking committed couples with children.
Twelve Tribes Community in Lancaster
This local outpost of an international community seeks to “love one another and care for each other’s needs the same way that Yahshua, the Son of God, did when he walked the earth.” The 80 members, young and old, are key members of the local community as well, operating successful businesses in the town of Lancaster.
Descriptions above are based upon information that appears on the Fellowship for Intentional Communities site (directory.ic.org), which also details such social factors as underlying philosophies and decision-making processes of each community, diet restrictions, labor contributions required and openness to new members.
In the 1970s they were called communes, and they popped up and then faded as fast as dandelions. But the concept of the small intentional community has never really faded from the scene. The Missouri-based Fellowship for Intentional Communities lists 13 classic communitarian groups, either established or forming (or defunct) in New Hampshire. Some, like the Animist Dawn Survival Community or the Tribe of Dirt, are essentially just idealistic families, willing to extend themselves by sharing their resources and their peculiar visions with others. Others, like the Twelve Tribes (based in Lancaster but with dozens of other locations in the U.S. and overseas), are well established and successful, with clearly defined social order and productive industry to preserve a common quality of life for the members of the group. All represent the desire to distinguish themselves from the modern world by redefining the nature of community based upon common ethics or beliefs. <
