Hippie Museum

Many Hippies from the San Francisco Bay area headed to communes in California such a Morningstar Ranch, founded by Lou Gottlieb of musical group The Limeliter's , which was begun with the help and support of his friend Ramon Sender, a fellow musician and writer. Shortly after, Wheeler's Ranch (where Alicia Bay Laurel wrote her reknown Living on the Earth ) was founded by Gottlieb's friend Bill Wheeler, who opened his land to all following Lou's leed, as both ranches deeded their land to God, and proceeded on to many court struggles before eventually being shut down and bulldozed with Sonoma county laws and regulations, predjudice, fear and heavy machinery. With first Morningstar, and a few years later followed by the demise of Wheeler's.

It must be pointed out here also, that one of the reasons for the fear and predjudice being so rampant towords open landers at the time among the "straight" neighbors, was not only from a basic mistrust and fear of a lifestyle they didn't understand and were adamantly apposed to, but sometimes the concept of "open land" was mistaken by some of the Hippies for "open party" and occasional rowdiness or dramatic happenings by "those crazy Hippies" were not unknown occurances to the local townspeople.

Click herefor "LATWIDN versus , a comment on this aspect of open land by Ramon Sender:

On another note, charismatic Stephen Gaskin was a captivating speaker who held "Monday Night Classes" in San Francisco where he spoke of Beat Zen and Buddhist concepts, peaceful evolution, and the restoration of moral values. In 1970, he began traveling with a caravan of 60 busses of free thinking people in a search for land and a place where they could live natural , self sufficient, healthy and peaceful lives, and wound up in Tennessee, where they started "The Farm , still going stong today, which became the most well known , active and at the time largest "Back to the Land" commune of the times. "They had babies. They bred horses and used them to work their farm. They built houses, erected a water tower, and started some small business enterprises, such as book publishing, textiles, and dried foods. They called their experimental community, The Farm. Over a decade, the community expanded to more than 1,000 people and its multi-million-dollar businesses became major players in the health food, consumer electronics, and niche publishing markets". *.....Albert Bates: J.Edgar Hoover & The Farm.

Another rural commune that was well known at the times was Drop Cityin Colorado, built by artists, with domes and buildings composed of remnants of things gathered here and there:

"even "That Drop City had to die, I knew, was no reason to mourn. All living things die. It's not the death that is important, but the day- by-day living, what we create in the world. The basic idea of Drop City and the Counterculture, to withdraw energy from the old system and use it to reshape society and the world, is an undying process. Young people always have to find their own structures to express their collective energies. They always turn to each other. Where else can they turn? I found out later that Curly and Jo had opposed selling Drop City. Curly had an idea of he and Jo moving back onto the land by themselves, and starting over again. Clard and the others wouldn't go along with it. I also found out later that, in order to sell the land, they had to remove from the deed the clause that declared the land "forever free and open to all people." Forever doesn't always last very long. All the domes except the theater were eventually dismantled and scavenged. A fitting end. The last I heard, the old Drop City theater dome is still there. But even when all traces of Drop City are wiped off the land, as they surely will be, the memory of a small band of creative young people defying the world and conventional reason, naïvely striving to liberate themselves, each other and society, to live in peace to the fullest, will continue to echo in our cultural memory every time people try, as we used to say, to live the Revolution." ............Drop City
An Update from Timothy Miller: "Minor detail, if anyone's interested: the theater dome at DC came down a year or two ago, or so I've heard. It was in terrible disrepair when I was last there maybe five years ago, so I wasn't surprised."
Tim

Black Bear Ranchwas another commune isolated in the Klamath Wilderness in California where many found a new way of life close to "the land".
"almost 20 years ago, a collection of hippies, draft dodgers, old beatniks, anarchist, drop outs and space cadets moved into a mountain commune. They sought to escape the Haight Ashbury in San Francisco, the draft and the Vietnam War, overbearing parents and a culture many of them considered corrupt and hypocritical. Over fifty adults and children collected money from welfare checks, inheritances, savings, and extortion from rock bands to buy 80 acres surrounded by national forest, four hours away from electricity and the nearest hospital. The locals claimed they wouldn't last the winter and, if it hadn't been for dope runs to San Francisco, hikes through the snow to replenish the tobacco supply and their dedication to creating what they called "a new culture," they wouldn't have lasted.
"...... Black Bear Solstice Reunion ~1987

Tolstoy Farm in Washington, and the Community of Athens located in Southeastern Ohio, are a couple more examples of a way of Life that was spreading across the Land bringing with it a return to not only a more natural way of life, but also creating a Unity of Thought and Spirit which was both Endearing, Enlightening and Powerfull. Listening to the audio, or reading the article "Going Back to the Land" , about life in the Minnestota woods, we can find some of the reason's for a person choosing to live a rustic lifestyle.

"A couple of decades ago, a lot of frustrated urbanites lit out for the country. They planned to build their own homes, grow their own tomatoes, maybe raise some chickens. People called it the "back to the land" movement. A lot of folks found a year or two of country living was enough, and they went back to running water, central heat, and neighborhood grocery stores. But Minnesota's north woods is still full of back-to-the-landers, making bark baskets, raising rabbits, and chopping firewood".

The communes that have survived 'til this day did so by strength in their belief in what what they are "about", while also observing the "laws of the land", and keeping a general structure of attitudes that will be accepted, while not allowing those that are not.The concept of "open land" is gone, taking with it the feeling of total freedom of living apart from society's "strucure",come what may.What remained were communities that were united in their desire to create working and peaceful sustainable living environments.

Today, the concept of "Back to the Land" is once again gaining popularity, as the World again finds itself on the verge of a New Awakening, and is beginning to see the Planet and Each Other through a reawakened Earth Consciousness, and a new respect and awareness of our precious Mother Earth. And while established communes are finding new interest, support and appeal, new communities are being planned and formed daily.

Once Again, .......... the Beat goes On!

A good list of current communities can be found here at the "Intentional Communities" website (WWW.iC.ORG)