Blue Ridge Cohousing
A Visitor's Perspective of Cohousing
"Mark and I visited Molly and Peter this weekend at the co-housing in Blacksburg. I
had no idea what co-housing was like till I was there. It's really amazing. People are
so relaxed and so neighborly, yet you still have your privacy when you want it. The
houses are very close together which at first I thought seemed too close. Yet as the
weekend progressed I loved it. At any point of the day you could walk out front to the
"pedway" and there was someone to talk to, or kids playing or you could just go
scratch Russell the worlds coolest terrier or pet Tom the friendly kitty. The kids ran
up and down playing with each other gleefully. Sat night there was a potluck and we
all sat and chatted and ate and drank and laughed. People talked about their kids,
the things they did, recipes, when berry picking was coming into season. No one
was griping about the traffic, crowds, stressful work or crazy co-workers, actually no
one was griping about anything at all.
Sat afternoon we took a walk with Molly, Peter and the girls through the woods, to
the little stream and played Pooh sticks.
Today I was sitting on one of Molly's neighbor's porches relaxing and one of her
neighbors just offered me a yummy stuffed cabbage roll, this was after we had
already had blueberry coffee cake warm from the oven and fresh whole wheat
bread. They just cook yummy healthy food all the time and share it with each other.
The shared aspects were so cool. Molly and Peter were cooking dinner for 20
something people at the community center, since it was there turn. People all paid
$4.50 towards the meal to reimburse them. They all share a T1 line so the internet
is just provided and no one secures their wireless connections so it's pretty much
wireless where ever you go. They are building bedrooms in the common house so
that if guests come they can stay there, so people don't have to worry about always
having room for guests in their house, there was a common garden and even
peoples private gardens were sometimes designed to be shared with others.
There were no cars to worry about because everyone parked in the lots behind the
community, but the walk wasn't far and they had carts for hauling stuff anyway. I
also loved that you could walk to the UU church or the grocery store fairly quickly
and most people did walk, sometimes with other peoples kids in tow. The kids
also watch out for each other and had a lot of respect for each other. Sure they're
kids and they squabble, but they also obviously cared about each other.
All I can say was it was heaven, relaxing and beautiful, if you can go to the open
house in June, go, you'll love it."
Alicyn Drew
June 5, 2006
had no idea what co-housing was like till I was there. It's really amazing. People are
so relaxed and so neighborly, yet you still have your privacy when you want it. The
houses are very close together which at first I thought seemed too close. Yet as the
weekend progressed I loved it. At any point of the day you could walk out front to the
"pedway" and there was someone to talk to, or kids playing or you could just go
scratch Russell the worlds coolest terrier or pet Tom the friendly kitty. The kids ran
up and down playing with each other gleefully. Sat night there was a potluck and we
all sat and chatted and ate and drank and laughed. People talked about their kids,
the things they did, recipes, when berry picking was coming into season. No one
was griping about the traffic, crowds, stressful work or crazy co-workers, actually no
one was griping about anything at all.
Sat afternoon we took a walk with Molly, Peter and the girls through the woods, to
the little stream and played Pooh sticks.
Today I was sitting on one of Molly's neighbor's porches relaxing and one of her
neighbors just offered me a yummy stuffed cabbage roll, this was after we had
already had blueberry coffee cake warm from the oven and fresh whole wheat
bread. They just cook yummy healthy food all the time and share it with each other.
The shared aspects were so cool. Molly and Peter were cooking dinner for 20
something people at the community center, since it was there turn. People all paid
$4.50 towards the meal to reimburse them. They all share a T1 line so the internet
is just provided and no one secures their wireless connections so it's pretty much
wireless where ever you go. They are building bedrooms in the common house so
that if guests come they can stay there, so people don't have to worry about always
having room for guests in their house, there was a common garden and even
peoples private gardens were sometimes designed to be shared with others.
There were no cars to worry about because everyone parked in the lots behind the
community, but the walk wasn't far and they had carts for hauling stuff anyway. I
also loved that you could walk to the UU church or the grocery store fairly quickly
and most people did walk, sometimes with other peoples kids in tow. The kids
also watch out for each other and had a lot of respect for each other. Sure they're
kids and they squabble, but they also obviously cared about each other.
All I can say was it was heaven, relaxing and beautiful, if you can go to the open
house in June, go, you'll love it."
Alicyn Drew
June 5, 2006
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A meeting in Shadowlake
Village in Blacksburg, VA
Village in Blacksburg, VA
Monticello, home of
Thomas Jefferson, in
Charlottesville, VA
Thomas Jefferson, in
Charlottesville, VA