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Celo Community
— Communal
settlement —
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Celo Community
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County
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State
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Established
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1937
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Founder
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Celo (pronounced
see-lo) Community is a communal settlement in the Western
mountains of North
Carolina, located in Yancey
County. It was founded in 1937 by Arthur
Ernest Morgan. Celo is a land
trust with its own rules of taxation and land tenure that runs its
internal government by consensus. The community does not require its members to
accept any religion or ideology, but is based on ideals of cooperation between
residents and care for the natural environment.[1] Today,
Celo is at maximum capacity with 40 families living on its 1,200 acres
(4.9 km2).[2]
Contents
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Mission and Goals of the Community
The Celo Community Constitution states as its overriding
purpose “to provide an opportunity for its members to enjoy a life that
includes personal expression, neighborly friendship and cooperation, and
appreciative care of the natural environment.”[3]
In 1959, the community restated its goals. Among these
were “to pay allegiance to our common humanity overshadowing religious, racial,
economic or political differences.” Members are expected to work “at a calling
that will provide simple but adequate living…to raise some of their own food
and in doing so to conserve rather than deplete the land.” The community also
stated as a central goal “to rear our children in a wholesome environment where
they can become acquainted with nature and be stimulated by intellectual
freedom.”[4]
Historically and today, cooperation has been at the
forefront of the community’s mission. Founder Arthur
Morgan explained the cooperative element of Celo by employing a
metaphor, which he named “human uranium.” Morgan explained that although a
cubic yard of granite contains enough uranium to blow up a mountain, the
particles have no effect when separated. Only when brought together, in what is
called a “critical mass,” can they exercise power. Morgan saw people in the
same way: when brought together with common goals and ideals they have great
power.[5]
Examples of Celo’s cooperative element include a food co-op,
a cooperative retail crafts store, and Cabin Fever University, a program for
sharing knowledge and skills as well as for organizing social events.[6]
Operations
The community is based on a land
trust system, by which members may own personal homes, but the land
itself (including the land under those homes) is owned by the community.[6] Land
is never sold to members, but is assigned for periods of time on the condition
that members live harmoniously with the land and their neighbors. Money is
occasionally lent to community members for the purpose of improving land. In
the words of the Celo Community Constitution, this system is meant to
“encourage personal enterprise among members by making land and money
available” for productive use.[7]
The Community does not provide jobs for its residents.
Members have worked on the community running summer camps, organizing cottage
industries, and working for the settlement itself. Members also work off of the
community. At times the work of the community has benefited the wider area. In
1962 Celo Community established the Arthur
Morgan School, a junior high school for students from outside the
community, mostly populated with students from pacifist and activist families.
Physicians at Celo once ran a clinic open to people from outside the community
and offering medical services for relatively low prices.[6]
The Community accepts new members by consensus. A vote is
held at regular meetings of the community. New admits must receive an
affirmative vote with no more than fifteen percent of those present and voting
dissenting. Members may also vote to dismiss members from the community.[8]
History
In 1936, wealthy Chicago industrialist William Regnery
was looking for a social project to fund. He asked a friend, Arthur
Morgan, to suggest one. Morgan suggested he underwrite the founding of an
intentional community. Regnery’s beliefs seemed, at first glance, to clash with
Morgan’s vision for a communal settlement: he was a conservative and mild
anti-Semite who opposed the New
Deal and Franklin
D. Roosevelt. However, his belief in the virtue of self-reliant rural
farmers overrode all of these characteristics, and he agreed. With his
philanthropy, Celo was on its way.[6]
Morgan, Regnery, and Morgan’s son, Griscomb Morgan, chose
the land that would become Celo. A board of directors was formed, including
among its members Morgan, Regnery, and Clarence Pickett, executive secretary of
theAmerican
Friends Service Committee.[6]
During the first few years, Celo experienced frequent
turn over of residents and difficulty in recruitment of members as the
community struggled to establish a clear identity and direction.[6] During
this time, Celo also suffered from attacks for its opposition to World
War II.[1]
In the midst of World War II, Morgan visited Civilian
Public Service camps in an attempt to recruit community members. He told the conscientious
objectors confined there about Celo and invited them to move to the
community when the war ended. This group proved a receptive audience and when
the war ended several families moved to the community. Celo had a stable
population by 1948.[6]
In these early years Celo was populated mostly with Quakers and
pacifists, a legacy left by Morgan’s recruitment in the conscientious objector
camps.[6] Early
growth was constant, but slowed during the 1950s, due to conflicts with
ex-members, but by the 1960s national movements of communal living and
radicalism led the population to flourish once again.[1]
In 2001, Celo was home to 73 adult members and 40
children. The community is at membership capacity and has a waiting list of
families hoping to be admitted. Families who are unable to live at Celo due to
maximum capacity have began settling on the community’s periphery.[2]
See also
References
1. ^ a b c Hicks,
George L. Experimental Americans: Celo and Utopian Community in the Twentieth
Century. University of Illinois Press: 2001.
2. ^ a b Website
of Intentional Communities, A Project of the Fellowship
for Intentional Community
4. ^ Intentional Communities: 1959 Yearbook of the
Fellowship of Intentional Communities (Yellow Springs, Ohio: Fellowship of
Intentional Communities, 1959), 28. Quoted in Miller, Timothy. The Quest for
Utopia in Twentieth Century America. Volume I: 1900-1960. Syracuse University
Press: 1998. pp 157.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Miller,
Timothy. The Quest for Utopia in Twentieth Century America. Volume I:
1900-1960. Syracuse University Press: 1998. pp 157–158
External links
- Camp
Celo farm website
- Arthur
Morgan School
- Yancey
County News - weekly newspaper covering Celo area.
***
Alan: My daughter, Maria, attended Celo summer camp and loved it.
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Alan: My daughter, Maria, attended Celo summer camp and loved it.
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