Encyclopedia of American Communes, 1663-1963

ISBN-13: 9780786476206 / Angielski / Miękka / 2013 / 267 str.

Foster Stockwell

Opis

Swanendael, the first communal experiment in America, was established in 1663 by Mennonites from Holland. The scant records available on the community show that 41 people, led by Pieter Cornelisz Plockhoy, settled in an area near Lewes, Delaware, in the late summer. These "souls," as they were called, shared all things in common, refused to keep slaves, practiced religious toleration for all but Catholics and "stiff-necked Quakers," and had the first free school in the New World.