Druid Heights

Druid Heights
Counterculture Enclave
Druid Heights Location in California
Coordinates: 37°53′21.174″N 122°33′52.9596″W / 37.88921500°N 122.564711000°W / 37.88921500; -122.564711000
Founded by	Elsa Gidlow,

Druid Heights was a counterculture enclave in Marin County, California, U.S., The property was purchased in 1954 by poet Elsa Gidlow, and subsequently the land was split with carpenter Roger Somers and his wife Mary. In 1956, Elsa named her portion Druid Heights and today the entire site is called by this moniker although in practice the neighbors seldom used the name. In actuality, the community was not a monolith, but the neighborhood shared common values and responsibilities concomitant with the remote site's lack of services. It had no city water system, no sewers, and no city maintenance for the three mile dirt road that gave them access to their properties. The neighbors, including others along the road, had to pool money and resources to maintain these vital services and these challenges demanded they work together in harmony. The remoteness and uniqueness of the site attracted various countercultural movements and many figures of the San Francisco Renaissance.^[1]