What is a Commune?

by Libby Pelham | More from this Blogger

When I was a child in the '60s, I remember hearing about communes. Back then, at least in my household, communes were not looked upon favorably. I guess it wasn't so much the idea behind it, but the fact that those darn counterculture hippies were living together and that just wasn't the American way. Some communes, including that loosely defined by the Manson family, even became known as cults.

Now that I look back, the idea of a commune seems pretty cool. A community of people living together, working the land for their food, and helping each other - how could that be bad? Of course, there are different types of communes. Some communes bring people together because of their religion. Some bring people together because of their political views. Regardless of the reasons, people brought together in a commune learn to rely on themselves and one another for their needs.

When I started doing a little research, I found that communal living in the U.S. went back way further than the '60s. The Harmony Society began in Harmony, Penn. in 1804 and this financially successful community didn't end until 1905. The commune started out with 400 members, all followers of George Rapp. Rapp and his followers had broken off from the Lutheran Church in Germany and settled in the U.S. to avoid persecution. Rapp made many predictions about the return of Christ that didn't come true. Disillusioned followers soon began leaving the commune, but it continued to run even after Rapp's death in 1847. What may have led to its eventual end was that the followers didn't allow new members to join and practiced celibacy.

Another long running U.S. commune was the Oneida community in Oneida, N.Y. Oneida was also a religious commune that grew from 87 original members in 1848 to a high of 306 by 1878. However, once the founder, John Humphrey Noyes, passed the leadership of the commune to his son Theodore, an atheist, the commune began to die out and eventually ended in 1881. If the name Oneida sounds familiar, it is because the Oneida Limited, the company known for its flatware, was born out of this commune.

So, communes are not a new idea, but in this day and age of green living, could it be that communes will become popular again?

Learn more about Libby Pelham

Libby Pelham is a web designer/freelance writer located in Memphis, TN. She has a beautiful little boy, Will, born in July of 2004.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger