Utopian Communities In Tennessee (Lesson 84)

Many times in history individuals and groups have tried to turn away from the typical ways of society to establish a different kind of life. Most of these have been started for religious purposes, such as the communities began by Shakers. Others have had  attempts to create a better society in worldly terms,, such as Robert Owen's experiments with planned industrial communities in New Lanark, Scotland and New Harmony, Indiana. Such experiments are often called Utopian communities. The term comes from Sir Tomas More's 1516 novel Utopia, about life on an imaginary, ideal island where all individual interests are sacrificed for the community. The name is a little joke because the word utopia means no place. No place on this earth is perfect, and attempts to make a perfect place on earth always fail because people are sinners and are not perfect.
Utopian communities often reflect a desire by many in society to create a better world. In the early 1800's, the material progress in America led to believe that a perfect world was possible. Many had similar dreams in late 1800's, when people wanted to leave the Civil War behind and move forward in society. The era of much talk about peace and love in the 1960's and early 1970's was another such time.

Anyways several communal experiments were tried in TN in the late 1800's. One reason the state had so many of them was that the land of rural settings was available at low cost. The following are the better known attempts as Utopian communities through TN history.


Nashoba - 1826
Frances Wright was the wealthy, well-educated daughter of a Scottish merchant and a English aristocrat. She was a friend of Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, and other well-known individuals. She was also known at an associate of Robert Owen. and the Utopian community he founded in New Harmony, Indiana. She wanted to find a way to end slavery that would work financially. She proposed an experiment that called for progressive whites and freed blacks living and working together. With the help of Andrew Jackson, she located 2,000 acres in present day Germantown, TN and began the colony of Nashoba. The community began with 15 former slaves whose freedom she had purchased and a small group of whites. The colony failed in 1830 she arranged for all 31 black residents to immigrate to Haiti. Wright became a outspoken social critic and reformer, re-advocating boarding schools for children from age two, radical feminism, and other controversial ideas.


Rugby - 1880
A group of British and American developers incorporated the Board of Aid to Land Ownership and, with the aid of famous author Thomas Hughes, attempted to build a model community made up from young Americans and aristocratic Britons. The majority of the community made up of young Americans from north to south, including the Tennessee hills, young Englishmen of high social standing, and men and woman from France and Germany the community was able to support itself off through the shared work of its members it still exists as a small community, and several historic buildings are open to the public.

Harriman -- 1890
(I immediately expect this group to be a bunch of unmarried middle aged men with beer bellies... I mean Harriman is their name........)
Northern industrialists, commited to prohibitation, established Harrimen in 1880. Their company, th East TN Land Company held a "Great Land Sale" in Febuary 1890. Every contract or deed on the property included a provision that forbade using, making, storing, or selling intoxicating beverages. (I was really far off...) The town became know as the "Utopia of Temperance."

Ruskin Cooperative Association - 1894
Ruskin was a nonreligious colony founded in Dickson County in August 1894. it was first located in TN City and soon moved near the cave, now called Ruskin Cave, on Yellow Creek. The main founder was Julius Wayland who stayed only one year. The colony was named for British social critic John Ruskin. It dissolved in 1899 because of international disagreements.

The Farm -- 1971

(Somebody is very creative when it comes to naming communities)















New age religious leader Stephen Gaskin and his followers founded this New Age religious commune in southeastern Lewis County near Summertown in 1971
 The community grew to 1,500 residents by 1979. In 1983 the community changed from being a commune to having a cooperative system. It now has a populate on of about 200.


That was way better than yesterdays lesson!

PEACE OUT.