Dancing Bones

Intentional Community

About

About
the
Community

Dancing Bones is located near the headwaters of the Baker River on the southern edge of the White Mountains. Established in 1998, the original idea for the community was to create a village of people focused around Sacred Circle Dance. That foundation has evolved to center around simple living in cooperation with the environment and people with whom we share our daily lives.

The land we live on is a rugged, heavily wooded site of approximately 40 acres close to the Appalachian Trail, mountains, lakes, and streams. There are currently about a dozen permanent residents. Additionally, there are generally a handful of people here as temporary residents. We’ve had families and single people of all ages, ethnicities and sexual orientations living here.

"Being a person who has chosen to live alone, yet also a person who enjoys being with people, I feel fortunate to have found both solitude and fellowship at Dancing Bones."

"The focus here is on communication. For me, it's a close knit neighborhood, one in which I feel secure about my children exploring."

"Dancing Bones is unique, even within the intentional communities world."

Visiting

Visitors & Guests

Dancing Bones is always open to visitors! Due to the safety and privacy of our members and our home, we request anyone new to the community to first schedule a virtual meeting with the community. See below to schedule.

If you have been here before, and have a firm time you'd like to stop by, contact us to schedule a visit.

Want to stay for a visit?

Those who are brand new to Dancing Bones are welcome to stay after virtually attending one of our weekly meetings.

Guests are always welcome to help with work or projects, and donations to the community are gladly accepted.

Those who wish to stay at Dancing Bones need to come to a community meeting and formally ask for temporary residency.

Policies

Camping & Cabins

There is plenty of room for tent camping on the property for $50 a night.

We also have a furnished guest cabin available for $150 per night.

RVs & Campers

Dancing Bones has limited ability to accommodate RVs. The driveway is unpaved, very steep with tight curves and water bars. Additionally, we have very limited space to park large vehicles. We will not, except by special permission of a Consensus of Permanent Residents, provide any hook ups to electricity or water.

During the summer months smaller RVs and conversion vans may be able to access the property but large RVs or buses will have difficulty.

During the winter, access would be impractical.

Community Building

The community building, a 16x16 structure with a kitchen, pantry and shower facilities for communal use, is also available for Guest’s use.

There is also a furnished loft available for guest use with a spectacular view!

We are currently in the process of building a newer, larger community building to better accommodate our growing community.

Local Area

Dancing Bones exists within the town of Wentworth, NH and while there is a gas station and convenience store, the nearest “civilization” of any size is Plymouth, NH to the south-east or Bradford, VT to the north-west.

Both are about 20 miles (30 min) away.

There is no public transportation system.

Not-so-off-grid

Dancing Bones is not entirely off grid. We do have electricity and access to mostly reliable wifi.

There is running water in the Community Building and we have composting toilets on property.

In chillier months, cabins are heated by wood or propane stoves.

Seasonality

Not all cabins on the property are equipped for year round occupancy.

We typically do not welcome guests to stay during winter months, due to the lack of shelters available, and limited parking options.

Animal Policy

The Permanent Residents of Dancing Bones need to know upfront about any animals, large or small, that you have and would like to bring with you.

Animals must be under the owners responsible control at all times.

Please understand that if, during your stay as our guest, a Permanent Resident of Dancing Bones feels, for any reason, that you or your animals should not be on the property, you or your animals can be asked to leave at any time.

Staying

Community Meeting

Dancing Bones governs through the use of consensus. While only Permanent Residents are formally included in a consensus decision we encourage anyone present, including guests, to actively participate in the discussion.

Sundays are community days! We have work parties starting at 11:00 AM where we make progress on various community projects. We also hold our weekly business meetings on Sundays at 5:00 PM.

We require guests and anyone with an interest in becoming a member to attend our meetings. (Initial meetings with newcomers are held virtually or over the phone. See below to schedule.)

Temporary Residency

When a person wishes to remain at Dancing Bones, they are expected to attend a Community Meeting and ask to become a Temporary Resident. This gives everyone a chance to discuss why a person wants to remain at Dancing Bones, for how long, and to address any special arrangements or concerns.

Gardens

Many people within the community have an interest in permaculture and we do have a few areas currently designated as community gardens and most residents have some form of personal garden space. In our experience many people have an interest in various forms of agriculture as an ideal.

Dancing Bones' land is primarily heavily forested and rugged mountain terrain. The open space we do have cleared requires a large investment in time and labor to keep clear and plant on.

The community remains open to allowing individuals to pursue their food production ideals.

Dwellings

Dancing Bones offers the opportunity to explore creative solutions to the challenges of shelter. Many people come here with excitement to try new ideas. We have had people live in tents, yurts, wigwams, greenhouses, straw bale structures, and self built cabins.

In the early years of Dancing Bones, everyone that came to live here had to build their own structure. As time has passed, former members have moved on and there are now some structures available to house those new to the community.

If you are wanting to build a new structure, that is something that needs to be discussed and approved by consensus.

Finances

Community Expenses

Each year we set a budget for our property taxes, expected utilities and maintenance expenses and divide that amount by the number of adult community members. This becomes our community fee for the year.

All the land is held by the Baker Valley Community Land Trust and subject to our full consensus decision making.

Community Members

Becoming a Community Member of the Dancing Bones Community is a significant commitment representing an understanding that the individual affects the lives of all the people in the community and shows a willingness to be affected by all the people of the community.

Potential new members will receive further information on our membership policy after attending a weekly community meeting after formally expressing their intention to become a Dancing Bones provisional community member. All provisional new members are subject to unanimous community consensus approval.

Once a new member is accepted, they are included in the consensus. People may ask to become Community Members at any time, but typically new members are not considered in colder months (New Member season roughly being April 1st - September 1st).

Membership