Twin Oaks
Where: At the end of an obscure dirt road in Louisa. Follow Interstate
64 west to the exit for state Route 605 (Exit 148). Make a right onto
Route 605 north and travel about five miles to the intersection with
state Route 646/Yanceyville Road. Take a left and follow Yanceyville
Road about one mile to state Route 697/Vigor Road. Take a left and
go about 0.8 of a mile. Twin Oaks is located at the end of the second
driveway on the left.
Phone: (540) 894-5126; call during regular business hours to sign
up for a tour.
Hours: A three-hour tour is offered most Saturdays from March through
October and most alternating Saturdays from November through February.
The tour begins at 2 p.m.
Web site: www.twinoaks.org gives an excellent overview of the history,
philosophy and income-generating products of this community.
Admission: A $5 donation is requested. If your guide is as excellent
as mine was, you're sure to get your money's worth and then some.
Overview: Founded in 1967 by several people influenced by B.F. Skinner's "Walden
Two," which depicts a utopian community shaped by behaviorist
ideology, Twin Oaks is an ongoing experiment in communal living. And
for a measly five bucks, you can spend three hours under the wing of
one of the residents, who will show you around the about 450-acre property
and will answer your questions about how more than 90 people live and
work together with minimal strife in an income-sharing, communal environment.
"We embrace values more important than behaviorism," explained
Paxus, 47, my tour guide and a six-year resident of Twin Oaks. (Twin
Oaks residents generally go by first names only.) "We're interested
in egalitarianism. We don't reward or punish. We have a kind of joke
that we can get people to do what you want by giving them cookies .
. . and to not do certain things by gossiping about them."
That being said, the maintenance of the community depends heavily
on a labor-credit system, under which most adults are required to put
in 42 hours of work each week. Work here includes income-generating
activities, such as helping make hammocks or tofu, as well as the kinds
of domestic chores and parenting responsibilities for which most of
us Monday-through-Friday slobs don't get nearly enough credit. Other
labor-creditable activities include going to the doctor, voting and
mediating conflicts among community members.
Not a bad deal, considering that in exchange for all these forms of
labor, residents receive food, shelter, access to a communal clothing "shop," health
care and ample opportunities to learn new skills in a relaxed environment.
Plus, one of the cafeteria cooks ran a French restaurant for 10 years,
so the food can't be all that bad. And if it pains you to imagine being
trapped in this bucolic idyll for long periods, maybe it'll help to
know that the community shares 17 vehicles, which can be reserved for
ranging afield, and, although televisions are prohibited, several computers
are wired for Internet access.
According to Paxus, hammock-making is the principal economic activity
of Twin Oaks, accounting for more than 75 percent of the community's
annual income. Although worker satisfaction is prized more than production
volume - as reflected in Twin Oaks' unique H-shaped hammock-making
jigs that accommodate two workers instead of the traditional one ("excellent
for talking, bad for efficiency," said Paxus) - the community
ranks as the third-largest hammock-maker in the United States. Tens
of thousands of Twin Oaks hammocks go to Pier 1 Imports annually.
The tour gives ample opportunities to see the hammock business, but
more time is spent exploring other nooks and crannies of the expansive
property. You'll no doubt glimpse the residents doing what human beings
everywhere do. We ran into people cleaning up the aftermath of a birthday
celebration, making cheese, tending a garden and listening to opera
while preparing dinner. Radical stuff, eh?
As a visitor, you may experience the prickly sensation of otherness
that comes from contact with a relatively closed community, but so
it goes for us mainstreamers. By the end of the tour, after interrogating
my guide off and on for three hours, I was still fascinated by the
organization and dynamics of the community. And I was still wondering
- could I ever abandon a life of information overload to make herbed
tofu and relax for months on end in the countryside?
Don't miss: Taking your turn on one of the swings in an area nicknamed
the Playground of Death and Rebirth, a wooded area filled with makeshift
platforms, nets, swings and other contraptions. Don't let the rotting
boards and uneven surfaces get the better of you. Cowabunga!
Extra time: It's possible to spend more time at Twin Oaks as an invited
guest of one of the residents. Three-week visitorships are offered
throughout the year for those with a real interest in joining the community.
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