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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

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Kids At Quarry Hill

I am hoping that many young people will move back (or for the first time) to QH over the next decade and raise their kids here-- perhaps even open the school again, though I do think that if kids want to go to public school or another school (assuming the parents can afford a paying school that is not here) they should be free to do that.

Andrew decided in about 8th grade to go to Rochester School, and ended up making lots of friends and becoming the Valedictorian with a scholarship to UVM (The Green and Gold Scholarship, given to each town's valedictorian within Vermont).

I truly hope that if and when people have kids here-- and we do have kids, and will, I am sure, have more, people will always remember the deepest-held idea of Quarry Hill: That no one ever hit children cruelly and roughly scold thenm, call them names, and so on.
It is actually written into our covenant for the land that this can never happen here.
As Irving said, "Adults must remember that they look like insane giants to children," and "Children are ambassadors from another dimension and should be treated with the utmost respect and courtesy."
He had a lot of other things to say on the subject too.
One day I hope to take clips from his talks and make a short video about his and QH's point of view towards children: that they should be allowed to do exactly as they please.  The idea when I was growing up was that, in a Wordsworthian sense, children come "trailing clouds of glory..." that is, that they are born with more clarity and openness than adults have, like a brand-new mirror or light as opposed to one that has had time to get dirty and scratched.

This is at the core of Quarry Hill belief and life. Of course there may have been times in the past when it wasn't perfectly executed, but anyone who knows me (and Brion) knows that we did everything we could to ensure that this point of view was held paramount. Even today I hope that the kids here know-- they will as time goes by-- that they can always come to our  house, and that of almost any adult on the place, for help and assistance. This is based on the Mutual Adoption Club in Aldous Huxley's Island... a book well worth reading. A little thick but great ideas.
More later-- my son,  Andrew, has just arrived from law school for a brief visit.

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