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Welcome to Quarry Hill's Blog!

Quarry Hill Creative Center in Rochester, VT, founded 1946 by Barbara and Irving Fiske, is Vermont's oldest alternative community and at one time was probably also its largest. In the 60s -80s, as many as 90 people lived here.
It was and is visited each year, often in summer (but in every season, really) by visitors from all over the world.
We welcome interesting and creative people who are peaceful, bring no weapons, don't believe in hitting children or killing animals, and enjoy the beauty of Vermont and of themselves.

Most of us do not adhere to any particular dogma or religion, though many do find Eastern philosophy closest to our own thought (some of us are also members of the Quakers/Society of Friends).
We value the individual, particularly people who are energetic and have a sense of humor.
Visitors are welcome-- and prospective residents, too. There are some places for rent, others for sale. If interested, get in touch!
And, please follow the Blog and comment whenever you like!

"The symbol is the enemy of the reality, and the reality is ever one's true guide, true friend, true companion, and true self." Irving Fiske, 1908-1990

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Irving Fiske's Obituary from the New York TImes

Irving L. Fiske, 82; Created Community For Workers in Arts Published: May 01, 1990 Sign In to E-Mail Print Irving L. Fiske, a freelance writer who founded a community for artists, writers and freethinkers in Rochester, Vt., died of a stroke Wednesday at Monroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Fla., where he was on vacation. He was 82 years old and lived in Rochester. In 1946, he and his wife, the former Barbara Hall, a painter, bought a 200-acre farm in central Vermont. Today the privately owned alternative community, known as Quarry Hill, numbers 80 to 100 people, including 30 children. It operates the North Hollow School, an accredited ''school without walls'' that opened in 1980, and the Top Drawer Stamp Company, a rubber-stamp maker established in 1979. The community, largely made up of individual and separate households, is child-centered, consistent with Mr. Fiske's abhorrence of violence against the young. Among its features is a court operated by and for children. Mr. Fiske, a native of Brooklyn, was a graduate of Cornell University. He worked with the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration in the Depression. He also wrote numerous magazine articles and several plays, including ''Hamlet in Modern English,'' a translation of ''Hamlet'' into colloquial speech.
Irving L. Fiske, 82; Created Community For Workers in Arts Published: May 01, 1990 Sign In to E-Mail Print Irving L. Fiske, a freelance writer who founded a community for artists, writers and freethinkers in Rochester, Vt., died of a stroke Wednesday at Monroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Fla., where he was on vacation. He was 82 years old and lived in Rochester. In 1946, he and his wife, the former Barbara Hall, a painter, bought a 200-acre farm in central Vermont. Today the privately owned alternative community, known as Quarry Hill, numbers 80 to 100 people, including 30 children. It operates the North Hollow School, an accredited ''school without walls'' that opened in 1980, and the Top Drawer Stamp Company, a rubber-stamp maker established in 1979. The community, largely made up of individual and separate households, is child-centered, consistent with Mr. Fiske's abhorrence of violence against the young. Among its features is a court operated by and for children. Mr. Fiske, a native of Brooklyn, was a graduate of Cornell University. He worked with the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration in the Depression. He also wrote numerous magazine articles and several plays, including ''Hamlet in Modern English,'' a translation of ''Hamlet'' into colloquial speech. Ads by Google Mr. Fiske is survived by a daughter, Isabella Fiske-McFarlin, who is in charge of Quarry Hill; a son, William Fiske of Rochester; a brother, Robert Fishman, and a sister, Miriam Gillison, both of Miami, and four grandchildren.

1 comment:

  1. That, of course, is not the whole story. It never is. But I hope to tell you the story in my memoir... coming soon.

    ReplyDelete