Piedmont Ecovillage

Mission: Our intention is to create a healthy environment where children can play together in safety, and where neighbors work collaboratively towards the good of the community while respecting each other’s independence. Our ecovillage will serve as an education center to promote green building practices, alternative energy use, and other principals of sustainable design. The neighborhood will include a shared common house and will maximize green space for a variety of purposes, including recreation and community gardens. We will offer several housing options including detached single-family homes, attached homes, and tiny homes. All structures will employ green building practices such as passive solar design to minimize our community’s carbon footprint.

From www.ic.org/directory/piedmont-ecovillage/:

We are in the planning stage of developing a new ecovillage in one of the counties surrounding Richmond, Virginia. Our vision is to create a diverse rural community which fosters social interaction, integrates sustainable practices, and serves to educate and inspire others. Our aim is to create an environment of growth, for people, families, kids, pets, gardens, wildlife, crops, hearts and spirits. Our intention is to do so, in a non-hierarchical way, through dynamic governance (Sociocracy) while incorporating a healthy balance of individual privacy and community sharing.

Our community will include: shared gardens, orchards, rain-water harvesting, composting, recycling, multi-purpose/re-configurable indoor and outdoor areas, pedestrian paths, renewable energy, a shared maker-space, common meals, and all manner of shared wisdom, from yoga to martial arts, and beekeeping to permaculture.

Another priority will be to have the common house act as a not-for-profit, educational center which will strive to instruct others on the valuable lessons of living gently and nurturing the planet. We envision classes ranging from permaculture, to tiny house construction, to Sociocracy and anything in between – including things we hope to discover along the way as we join together to create our ecovillage. Eventually, we expect to extend the invitation to experience ecovillage living to others. Providing overnight stays in the common house’s guest rooms, to possibly more protracted stays for exploring members or anyone who’s simply eco-curious.

We’re hoping to break new trail on living simply. We welcome new members, ideas, and support. If you’re interested in learning more, please visit our website: PiedmontEcovillage.org or email ecovillage2014@gmail.com

A service of the Data Commons Co-op. The project has been supported by Equal Exchange, the Cooperative Charitable Trust, the USDA, and many others - thank you! Tech volunteers over the years include: Benjamin Bradley with support from GAIA Host. Ben Mauer with support from Quilted. Paul Fitzpatrick. Ronin Tech Collective, Brattleboro Tech Collective, Sligo Computer Services. Jason Lemieux. Default map tiles courtesy of MapQuest. Default map data (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA.