Twin Oaks Commune?

[Chicom]

Twin Oaks is an ecovillage and intentional community in rural Virginia, located about halfway between Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia, that has sustained itself since 1967. It was one of the first secular egalitarian communities in the US in the 20th century. It is a founding member of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities. Twin Oaks uses a communal shared-labor system involving community work, organic gardens, hammock-making, book indexing and a tofu factory. Members work in community-owned businesses, with the community providing for all basic needs (housing, food, healthcare, etc.). All income from the businesses is shared, as are vehicles and houses. As of early 2006, about 95 people live at Twin Oaks - 15 of them children under 18, the rest adult members. The longest-staying members have been there over 30 years, but slightly more than half of the community members have been there 5 years or less.

The basic idea of egalitarianism has been castigated by many on the political right, certainly not solely in relation to Twin Oaks. Ayn Rand briefly mentioned Twin Oaks in one of her essays, in a highly disparaging context. Those unfamiliar with Twin Oaks may characterize the community as escapist, non-serious, and/or full of dirty hippies. Twin Oaks' commitments to nonviolence, feminism, and equality are obviously not appealing to people of all political persuasions.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Oaks
http://twinoaks.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Inte...nal_communities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Intentional_communities)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Utopian_communities