Barry Schneier Photography

“Bruce and Family, Ashland, Oregon 1974”

In the early 70’s a migration occurred. Many of my friends headed west from Boston. Some had just finished college while some had just had enough. A group of them landed in Southern Oregon, seeking a new life, experimenting with that Utopian concept better known as a “commune”.

Most of my friends established their new homes in 1972, I venturing out two years later. They worked the land; lived in group homes they built and let their hair grow long. And many of my friends had begun families.  As many of the men left to seek a new life, one that departed from the status quo of the time, equally of note were the single mothers who had migrated to this lifestyle as well. Many, having begun lives in the suburban dream of Southern California migrated north. The era called to them to find themselves. And many discovered that the conventional life of wife, mother and homemaker was not their calling after all. My circle of friends, now including partners and children had expanded exponentially since I last saw them

Everybody lived together, farmed together and survived together. It was the start of a new world.