Our visit to the Dunmire Hollow Community near Waynesboro, Tennessee---our thirteenth intentional community---was simply two days of southern hospitality, peppered with good people, good food, peaceful nature, and a sense of relaxed ease.
Dunmire Hollow is a small community whose population has waxed and waned over the years. There are currently less than ten residents, but Dunmire is a central gathering place for homesteaders and community-minded people for miles in every direction, and every Wednesday night there is a well-attended potluck meal that brings friends together for camaraderie, laughter, conversation, and generous pots of home-cooked food and homemade wine. We were lucky enough to attend the Wednesday night gathering just yesterday, and the friendliness and good will of the people in attendance was both remarkable and heartwarming. Luckily, new friends that we had made while visiting The Farm also came for dinner, so it was like "Old Home Week" as they came in the door with joyous exclamations and warm hugs all around.
Our host, Harvey, one of the founders of Dunmire, is a master woodworker, soccer coach and handyman extraordinaire. He walked us around the land, answered our many questions about the community, and quietly presides over Dunmire with a calm and peaceful equanimity. His business partner, Dave, was kind enough to check over our solar array and batteries, offering sage advice to augment our lack of electrical knowledge. Everyone was ever so kind, and we left Dunmire Hollow feeling uplifted and refreshed. Thanks to everyone in the wider Dunmire community for welcoming us so warmly and urging us to move to Central Tennessee!
Seems like a sweet place!! And it's so much warmer than Mass!!
ReplyDeleteHey Keith. Looks like you're having a great time touring the country. FYI: You weren't very far from us when you visited Dunmire. We're living in Elizabethton, TN. That's way up in the northeast corner of the state if you want to locate it on a map.
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