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==History==
==History==


Amos Bronson Alcott, a teacher and member of the [[New England Non-Resistance Society]],<ref name=Rose118>Rose, Anne C. ''Transcendentalism as a Social Movement, 1830–1850''. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981: 118. ISBN 0-300-02587-4</ref> came up with the idea of Fruitlands in 1841. He traveled to England the following year, where he hoped to find support and people to participate with him in the experiment. England was home to his strongest group of supporters, a group of educators who had founded the [[Alcott House]], a school based on his [[philosophy of education|philosophy of teaching]]. One of his supporters was Charles Lane, who journeyed with him to the United States on 21 October 1842.<ref name=Packer148>Packer, Barbara L. ''The Transcendentalists''. Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 2007: 148. ISBN 9780820329581</ref>


In May 1843, Lane purchased the {{convert|90|acre|m2|sing=on}} Wyman Farm in [[Harvard, Massachusetts]]<ref name=Packer148/> for $1800. Though Alcott had come up with the idea of Fruitlands himself, he was not involved in purchasing the land, largely because he was penniless after the failure of his [[Temple School]] and his subsequent years in [[Concord, Massachusetts]] as a farmer. In July, Alcott announced their plans in ''[[The Dial]]'': "We have made an arrangement with the proprieter of an estate of about a hundred acres, which liberates this tract from human ownership".<ref name=Packer148/> They had officially moved to the farm on June 1 and optimistically named it "Fruitlands" despite only ten old apple trees on the property.<ref name=Packer148/>


In principle, the Fruitlands reformers did not believe in [[Land tenure|purchasing property]]; Lane said the following on the subject: "We do not recognize the purchase of land; but its redemption from the debasing state of proprium, or property, to divine uses, we clearly understand; where those whom the world esteems owners are found yielding their individual rights to the Supreme Owner." <ref>Gordon, Jessica. "Transcendental Ideas: Social Reform." American Transcendentalism Web. 20 Feb. 2008 <http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/ideas/fruitlands.html>.</ref> The commune attracted 14 residents, including the Alcott and Lane families. By July, the community had succeeded in planting {{convert|8|acre|m2}} of grains, one of vegetables, and one of melons.<ref>Felton, R. Todd. ''A Journey into the Transcendentalists' New England''. Berkeley, California: Roaring Forties Press, 2006: 132. ISBN 0-9766706-4-X</ref>


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Fruitlands ultimately failed the winter after it opened, largely due to food shortages and accompanying unrest in the inhabitants. The rigors of a New England winter proved too severe for the members of the Fruitlands.
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==Philosophy==
==Philosophy==

Revision as of 11:49, 8 March 2012

Fruitlands
Farmhouse at Fruitlands
Fruitlands (transcendental center) is located in Massachusetts
Fruitlands (transcendental center)
LocationHarvard, Massachusetts
Built1843
ArchitectUnknown
Architectural styleNo Style Listed
NRHP reference No.74001761[1]
Added to NRHPMarch 19, 1974

Fruitlands was a Utopian agrarian commune established in Harvard, Massachusetts by Amos Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane in the 1840s, based on Transcendentalist principles. An account of its less-than-successful activities can be found in Alcott's daughter Louisa May Alcott's Transcendental Wild Oats.

Lane purchased what was known as the Wyman farm and its 90 acres (360,000 m2), which also included a dilapidated house and barn. Residents of Fruitlands ate no animal substances, drank only water, bathed in unheated water, and did not use artificial light.[2] Additionally, property was held communally, and no animal labor was used.

The community was short-lived and lasted only seven months. It was dependent on farming, which turned out to be too difficult. The original farmhouse, along with other historic buildings from the area, is now a part of Fruitlands Museum.

History

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Philosophy

Fruitlands co-founder Amos Bronson Alcott

Many of Alcott's and Lane's ideas were derived from Transcendentalism. They were influenced by the Transcendental ideas of God not as the traditional view from the Bible but as a world spirit.[3] Alcott's view of Transcendentalism was a sort of religious anarchism, a renunciation of the world to focus on the spirit.[4] The members of Fruitlands believed that spiritual regeneration was linked to physical health, that "outward abstinence is a sign of inward fullness".[5] Though it was based on working together as a community, Fruitlands also hoped for individualistic improvement.[3] Alcott also believed in the perfect intuition of children and, therefore, put a strong emphasis on education and hoped that their innocence would have a rejuvenating effect on elders.[6]

Economy

Fruitlands residents, who called themselves "the consociate family",[7] wished to separate themselves from the world economy by refraining from trade, having no personal property, and not using hired labor. Alcott and Lane believed that the community could achieve complete freedom only by eliminating economic activity altogether.[8] Alcott in particular believed the present economy was evil.[9] To this end, they strove towards self-sufficiency by planning on growing all the food they would need themselves and making only the goods they needed. By accomplishing these two goals, they would eliminate the need to participate in trade or to purchase their food from the outside world. Initially, Bronson Alcott and Lane modeled their ideas about personal property off the Shakers, who held property communally. However, the Shakers were not completely self-sufficient; they traded their hand-made goods for coffee, tea, meat and milk. Bronson Alcott and Lane eliminated the need to trade for these supplies because they eliminated animal products and stimulants from their diets entirely.

In the end, the Fruitlands community had no effect on the economy of the outside world; Fruitlands allowed its residents to practice their ideals without forcing them to effect any real change.[10]

Lifestyle and diet

Fruitlands residents began their days with a purging cold-water shower[5] and subsisted on a simple diet containing no stimulants or animal products. They were vegans, excluding even milk and honey from their diets. “Neither coffee, tea, molasses, nor rice tempts us beyond the bounds of indigenous production,” Lane wrote. “No animal substances neither flesh, butter, cheese, eggs, nor milk pollute our tables, nor corrupt our bodies.” Diet was usually fruit and water; many vegetables—including carrots, beets, and potatoes—were forbidden because they showed a lower nature by growing downward.[8]

Fruitlands members wore only linen clothes and canvas shoes; cotton fabric was forbidden because it exploited slave labor and wool was banned because it came from sheep.[8] Bronson Alcott and Lane believed that animals should not be exploited for their meat or their labor, so they used no animals for farming. This arose out of two beliefs: that animals were less intelligent than humans and that, therefore, it was the duty of humans to protect them; and that using animals "tainted" their work and food, since animals were not enlightened and therefore unclean. Eventually, as the winter was coming, Alcott and Lane compromised and allowed an ox and a cow.[8]

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.[11] 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.

  • 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.
  • 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.[13] 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.[14]
  • 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,[15] though he only stayed for two months. He later became a Roman Catholic priest.[16]
  • 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.[17]
  • 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.[18]
  • 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".[19]
  • Ann Page - Besides Bronson Alcott's wife, Page was the only adult female member of Fruitlands.[7] 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.[20]

Dissolution and legacy

Historical marker at the former site of Fruitlands

The biggest challenge at Fruitlands was the farming aspect; the community had arrived at the farm a month behind the planting schedule and only about 11 acres (45,000 m2) of land were arable.[5] The decision not to use animal labor on the farm proved to be the undoing of the commune; combined with the fact that many of the men of the commune spent their days teaching or philosophizing instead of working in the field, which made farming difficult. Using only their own hands, the Fruitlands residents were incapable of growing a sufficient amount of food to get them through the winter.

Fruitlands was also hampered by its structure. Alcott and Lane wielded nearly limitless authority and dictated very strict and repressive models for living. "I am prone to indulge in an occasional hilarity", wrote Alcott's wife Abby May, "but seem frowned down into still quiet and peace-less order... [and] am almost suffocated in this atmosphere of restriction and form".[21]

The Fruitlands experiment ended only seven months after it began. According to Bronson Alcott, the inhabitants left Fruitlands in January 1844; his daughter, Louisa May, wrote that they left in December 1843, which is considered to be the more accurate date.[22] Alcott was deeply dismayed by the failure of Fruitlands and, moving with his family to live with a nearby farmer, refused to eat for several days.[23] Later, Ralph Waldo Emerson helped purchase a home for the family in Concord.[24]

Fruitlands had only a brief opportunity to impact America and the Transcendentalist movement.

After Fruitlands ended, the land was bought by one of its former participants, Joseph Palmer, who used the site as a refuge for former reformers for twenty years.[25] The property was later purchased in 1910 by Clara Endicott Sears, who opened the farmhouse to the public in 1914 as a museum.[26] Today, the Fruitlands Museum also includes a museum on Shaker life, an art gallery of nineteenth century paintings, and a museum of Native American art and crafts.[26]

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ McFarland, Philip. Hawthorne in Concord. New York: Grove Press, 2004. p. 81. ISBN 0802117767
  3. ^ a b Hankins, Barry. The Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalists. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2004: 37. ISBN 0-313-31848-4
  4. ^ Rose, Anne C. Transcendentalism as a Social Movement, 1830–1850. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981: 117. ISBN 0-300-02587-4
  5. ^ a b c Delano, Sterling F. Brook Farm: The Dark Side of Utopia. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004: 118. ISBN 0-674-01160-0
  6. ^ Rose, Anne C. Transcendentalism as a Social Movement, 1830–1850. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981: 197. ISBN 0-300-02587-4
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Packer148 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b c d Hankins, Barry. The Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalists. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2004: 36. ISBN 0-313-31848-4
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rose118 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Fruitlands." Amos Bronson Alcott Network. 20 Feb. 2008 <http://www.alcott.net/alcott/home/fruitlands.html>.
  11. ^ Rose, Anne C. Transcendentalism as a Social Movement, 1830–1850. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981: 128. ISBN 0-300-02587-4
  12. ^ Brown, Amy B. "Amos Bronson Alcott." American Transcendentalism Web. June 2002. 20 Feb. 2008 <http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/alcott/>.
  13. ^ "Charles Lane." Amos Bronson Alcott. 21 Feb. 2008 <http://www.alcott.net/alcott/home/champions/Lane.html>.
  14. ^ "Joseph Palmer." Amos Bronson Alcott. 2 Feb. 2008 <http://www.alcott.net/alcott/home/champions/Palmer.html>.
  15. ^ Delano, Sterling F. Brook Farm: The Dark Side of Utopia. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004: 120. ISBN 0-674-01160-0
  16. ^ "Isaac Thomas Hecker." Amos Bronson Alcott. 21 Feb. 2008 <http://www.alcott.net/alcott/home/champions/Hecker.html>.
  17. ^ Felton, R. Todd. A Journey into the Transcendentalists' New England. Berkeley, California: Roaring Forties Press, 2006: 131. ISBN 0-9766706-4-X
  18. ^ "Abraham Everett." Amos Bronson Alcott. 21 Feb. 2008 <http://www.alcott.net/alcott/home/champions/Everett.html?index=0>.
  19. ^ "Samuel Bower." Amos Bronson Alcott. 21 Feb. 2008 <http://www.alcott.net/alcott/home/champions/Bower.html>.
  20. ^ "Ann Page." Amos Bronson Alcott. 21 Feb. 2008 <http://www.alcott.net/alcott/home/champions/Page.html>.
  21. ^ Rose, Anne C. Transcendentalism as a Social Movement, 1830–1850. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981: 127. ISBN 0-300-02587-4
  22. ^ "Fruitlands." Amos Bronson Alcott. 5 Mar. 2008 <http://www.alcott.net/alcott/home/fruitlands.html>.
  23. ^ Packer, Barbara L. The Transcendentalists. Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 2007: 149. ISBN 9780820329581
  24. ^ Packer, Barbara L. The Transcendentalists. Athens, Georgia: The University of Georgia Press, 2007: 150. ISBN 9780820329581
  25. ^ Rose, Anne C. Transcendentalism as a Social Movement, 1830–1850. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981: 123. ISBN 0-300-02587-4
  26. ^ a b Felton, R. Todd. A Journey into the Transcendentalists' New England. Berkeley, California: Roaring Forties Press, 2006: 133. ISBN 0-9766706-4-X
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