The new face of communes in Maine

[Coaster]

There was a commune east of Ellsworth in the very early 1970s that I visited a couple of times. It was on the back road to Cherryfield, as I recall. (Those memories are rather vague these days.) The original group of, I think, eight people had pooled their money and bought an old farm that came with a raft of outbuildings in various stages of decay. Folks came and went on a regular basis.

There was another one waaaay back in the woods in the Whiting area of Washington County, between Machias and Lubec, that was still active in the early 1980s.

[Coaster]

Originally Posted by fraulein

I am looking for information on a religious commune in Maine in the early 1920's. My father had lived in one and am trying to find out more about it but don't recall the name

Maine had several religious communities active in the early 20th century. The most famous was the Shakers at Sabbathday Lake. There was also The Kingdom, also called Shiloh, in Durham, Maine, a communitarian religious sect founded by Frank Sandford in the late 1800s. It faded rapidly in the 1920s. There were still some members scattered in small groups around the country, and last time I checked Shiloh Chapel still had regular services.

[Bangorboy]

Originally Posted by Kiwiluver

To dovetail on that thought, in Dover-Foxcroft, there was a commune called, "Eugene Coombs Natural Organic Earth Farm" in the early 70's. I picked some guys up hitchiking when I was visiting my Grandparents in Gardiner on leave and brought them there, they all knew I was a GI and it didn't bother them like most hippies, they were most welcoming and did not condem me. I went back and visited them several times. Something about patcholi oil and hippie girls got to me back then.Nice people.

I know exactly what you mean about patcholi oil and hippy girls.