Finding a Woman's Place

Book excerpt: Award-winning author Lorraine Duvall's recent book tells the story of a women's commune in northern New York. In 1974, seven women, with their eight children, left their jobs, friends, and families to live together communally on a 23-acre, rustic, abandoned resort in Athol, New York. They called their new home A Woman's Place, inspired by other feminists to take this independent action and leave behind the restraints of the patriarchal society of the 1960s and '70s. This was also the time when back-to-the-land intentional communities were started in rural areas of the United States and abroad. Most were co-ed. Only a few were women-only.Hundreds of women passed through the doors of A Woman's Place in its eight years of existence from 1974 to 1982. The popularity spoke to the need for women to congregate and take comfort in knowing that they were not alone in their struggles to thrive in a male-dominated world.Duvall tells a powerful story of communal living-the trials and tribulations, the joys and sorrows. Hearing about the personal lives of the women who were brave enough to begin anew at A Woman's Place will hopefully inspire women, and men, to take action in their own personal lives.