Residents
There were no formal admission requirements or procedures to join the community at Fruitlands, and there was no official record-keeping of members. Many residents stayed only for a short period of time and most lists are based on the journals of Alcott's wife Abby May. Residents of the Fruitlands came to be called "consecrated cranks" and followed strict principles and virtues. They strongly believed in the ideas of simplicity, sincerity, and brotherly love.
- Amos Bronson Alcott - Born in 1799, Bronson Alcott was a prominent educator and Transcendentalist who believed in eliminating corporal punishment, and incorporating field trips, physical education, art and music into the curriculum.
- Abigail Alcott - Abigail was Bronson Alcott's wife and also a reformer. She was one of only two women who lived at Fruitlands, and was primarily responsible for taking care of the house and farm, as well as raising her four children.
- Louisa May Alcott - The Alcotts' second daughter, her short piece Transcendental Wild Oats was written about her experiences at Fruitlands.
- Charles Lane - Lane met Bronson Alcott in England in 1841, at which time Lane was living at the Alcott House school in Surrey. His strict views on living a "pure" life were ultimately part of what destroyed the Fruitlands community. His son was also a resident of Fruitlands.
- Joseph Palmer - Palmer joined Fruitlands in August 1843, and stayed through the demise of the commune, later purchasing the farm and founding another utopian society there. He was famous for wearing a full beard, despite social stigma against it; he had even served time in prison for defending his right to wear a beard.
- Isaac Hecker - Hecker began life as a baker in New York, but then went through a progression of religious and spiritual explorations. He resided at Brook Farm, another Transcendentalist community, for six months before joining the Fruitlands community. He was initially attracted by the "deeper" spiritual life at Fruitlands compared to Brook Farm, though he only stayed for two months. He later became a Roman Catholic priest.
- Samuel Larned - Like Hecker, Larned lived briefly at Brook Farm before coming to Fruitlands. He was known for using foul language because he believed that swears said with a pure heart uplifted listeners.
- Abraham Everett - Also known as Abraham Woods, he changed his name upon his arrival at Fruitlands, to Wood Abram. He had once been committed to an insane asylum before joining Fruitlands.
- Samuel Bower - Bower lived at Fruitlands for only a few months, after which he left to experiment with nudism, believing that clothes "stifled the spirit".
- Ann Page - Besides Bronson Alcott's wife, Page was the only adult female member of Fruitlands. Page and Mrs. Alcott were responsible for most of the household chores and often had to take care of the farm as well. Page was eventually kicked out of Fruitlands, supposedly for eating a piece of fish, which was forbidden in the community.
Read more about this topic: Fruitlands (transcendental Center)
Famous quotes containing the word residents:
“Most of the folktales dealing with the Indians are lurid and romantic. The story of the Indian lovers who were refused permission to wed and committed suicide is common to many places. Local residents point out cliffs where Indian maidens leaped to their death until it would seem that the first duty of all Indian girls was to jump off cliffs.”
—For the State of Iowa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“In most nineteenth-century cities, both large and small, more than 50 percent—and often up to 75 percent—of the residents in any given year were no longer there ten years later. People born in the twentieth century are much more likely to live near their birthplace than were people born in the nineteenth century.”
—Stephanie Coontz (20th century)