Twin Oaks Community is an ecovillage living on in Louisa County, Virginia, United States. It is a member of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities. Founded in 1967, it is one of the longest-enduring and largest secular intentional communities in North America. About 100 adults and 17 children live in the community.
Founding
The community was founded on a tobacco farm in 1967 The community's inspiration was B. F. Skinner's novel Walden Two, which describes a fictional behaviorist utopia. However, Skinner's vision quickly faded from prominence at Twin Oaks, as behaviorist principles were abandoned in favor of egalitarian principles. The community struggled greatly during its first few years, from high member turnover and low member income. According to Kinkade, the community avoided the problems of laziness, freeloading, and lack of structure stereotypically associated with communes by adopting a structured, yet flexible, labor system.
Modified versions of the community's organizational structure and labor credit system survive. As in Skinner's novel, the original labor credit system utilized "variable" credit hours. Certain jobs were worth more credit hours than others in order to make each job desirable. What the community found once the population reached about 40, is that there was neither universally desirable work, nor undesirable work and the variable credit hour system created incentives that encouraged work. The updated plan uses "standardized" credits; each job in the community is valued equally in credit hours.
Life as a member
thumb|left|200px|[[Hammock-making was one of Twin Oaks' main sources of income]]Twin Oaks has approximately 100 members. Since 2011, Twin Oaks has consistently had a waiting list, so visitors who are accepted for membership need to wait typically three to nine months before they can join. Before a new member can join, while the community is at its population capacity, a current member needs to drop membership. Historically, Twin Oaks has expanded its housing when it has had a waiting list for a prolonged period by building new residences and expanding the stock of bedrooms available.
Residents live in dormitory-style living quarters spread out across the community. Each member has a private bedroom, but shares public spaces. The BBC Four television series Utopia: In Search of the Dream, broadcast on August 15, 2017, devoted an 11-minute segment to Twin Oaks. Members and one former member (the founders' daughter), interviewed by Professor Richard Clay, expressed concerns about the inability to build savings, and complex interpersonal relationships. Clay observed that 20 percent of the membership turned over annually.
Community businesses
Twin Oaks' 36-hour work week is divided between domestic and income-producing labor. This money pays for community upkeep and goods that cannot be produced on site, and each member receives a monthly stipend for personal use (i.e., to purchase items that the community does not provide). In news segments, Twin Oakers often attribute the longevity of the community to its engagement in capitalism through its tofu and hammocks businesses..
Supporting the communities movement
Twin Oaks has helped establish three sister communities: Acorn Community, and the Women's Gathering, both of which take place every August.
Media coverage
The history of Twin Oaks Community is detailed extensively in two books by Kathleen (Kat) Kinkade, one of the co-founders of the community. The first, A Walden Two Experiment, About half a dozen dissertations and a dozen master's theses have been written about the community, as well. In 1998, the Washington Post Magazine did a cover story on Twin Oaks.
Ecology
Twin Oaks seeks to be a model of sustainability. and self-sufficiency. Members hold all resources in common except for the personal items they keep in their bedrooms. For instance, members share housing, a fleet of 17 vehicles, and a large "clothing library".