Your guide to explore!
Iconic Hippie Community Lives On
About 200 hippies in search of a more spiritual life found their utopia at the edge of Lawrence and Lewis counties in 1971.
They were inspired and led by former US Marine and San Francisco State College instructor Stephen Gaskin, who spoke on topics ranging from psychedelics to world religions in his open air Monday Night Class.
They pooled their resources to buy 1750 acres of woods and farmland near Summertown, and lived communally until 1983. The population is well below the 1500 it once reached, but The Farm remains one of the nation’s oldest intentional communities, where people live together based on specific common values.
Businesses and nonprofits created at The Farm reflect the desire to have a positive effect on the world. Interests include a dedication to spiritual living, vegetarianism, sustainability, service to others, and non-violence.
The most well-known development is The Farm Midwifery Center, which evolved from the delivery of 11 babies on The Caravan to Summertown and hundreds more over the years. Healthcare professionals and expectant mothers from around the world come to The Farm to learn delivery methods and have their babies.
The Farm Welcome Center is at the entrance of the community and offers a small museum about The Farm’s history, a selection of volumes from its Book Publishing Company, and tie-dye T-shirts, and other items.
A driving tour takes visitors passed by The Farm School, a large passive solar building; The Farm Store for vegetarian and organic groceries; and the nearby meeting hall dome where market day is held every third Saturday, April through October.
Rustic campsites are located near The Farm Welcome Center and at the Eco-village Hostel, which also has dorm style accommodations and private rooms. Several residents offer lodging for visitors as well.
A Pioneer in an Ancient Field
After assisting at 11 births during the trip from San Francisco to Summertown, Ina May Gaskin, MA, CPM, PhD (honorary) founded The Farm Midwifery Center in 1971. The midwives knowledge grew with formal training and the experience of assisting at literally thousands of births.
In 1975 Gaskin and The Farm Midwives wrote and edited Spiritual Midwifery, which has sold over 540,000 copies to date and has been translated into 12 languages. She published a quarterly Birth Gazette for 22 years, and also three more books: Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth; Ina May’s Guide to Breast-Feeding; and Birth Matters: the Midwives Manifesta.
Gaskin has lectured all over the world to medical school faculty and students, midwives and physicians. In 2011 she received the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize. In 2013 she became an inductee to the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She continues to advocate for the health of mothers and their babies.