Padanaram Settlement

Padanaram Settlement is an intentional community and unincorporated community in the U.S. state of Indiana.

Padanaram is located on nearly 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) in the wooded countryside of Martin County in southern Indiana.[1] Founded in 1966 by Daniel Wright, his wife Lois and a few friends, it has grown from 86 acres to its present size of 3000 acres. The community is located on 3000 acres of woods, farmland, and lakes. The population consists of 150 individuals who live in communal buildings with apartments or in individual homes.


Padanaram started in 1966 with twelve individuals and 86 acres. It has now grown to 200 individuals and 2400 acres of land consisting of lakes, streams, orchards, vinyards, gardens and surrounded by beautiful wooded hills.

The word Padanaram is taken from two Hebrew words- Paddan (to extend) and Aram (to elevate, a citadel, castle, palace). It is a word found in Gen. 28:2. To the inhabitants it means the highest order of peace and righteousness.

The lifestyle is familyism--small nuclear families within the larger extended family. Families live in apartment style dwellings within the larger communal buildings. Meals are eaten in the dining room three times daily.

Men and women work within the group as "cooperative equals" in harmony with one another toward a common goal. Each individual is encouraged to expand within their genetical inheritance. They are united toward a goal of building bridges into a better utopian world for those coming behind. The villagers work in such areas as maintenance, gardening, veneer sales, sawmilling, land improvement, bark mulch sales, cooking, sewing, teaching, buying, health care, gardening, and business. In their spare time, many villagers are involved in the creative arts of weaving, woodworking, art work, photography, quilting/sewing/stitchery, jewelry making, and herbal crafts.

Swimming, hiking, horseback riding, hunting and fishing provide healthy outlets for both children and adults. At special times original plays and music are presented by the villagers and the school children. On Wednesday evening, a "rap" is held and covers any subject ranging from politics to religion. Sunday night, a spiritual meeting is held in the meeting house.

History

The geographical location of the Settlement was found by a man named Daniel Wright, who experienced a spiritual encounter in coming to this particular spot. [Daniel A. R. Wright; Birth: 24 Jun 1918; Death: 11 Jan 2001 - Williams, Lawrence, Indiana] The following excerpt, in part, is taken from a paper written by Daniel relative to his finding this area:

    "I immediately felt I was entering the Garden of Eden. I felt this was sacred ground, that man must tread softly here". Spring was everywhere-so beauteous. This was His Valley. I got out of my car at the bottom of the winding hill; and on my knees, a voice spoke to me: "Here men will take off their shoes. This is Holy Ground." (Daniel Wright)

Twelve,adventurous, pioneer-type settlers moved to the rolling hills of Martin County, Indiana to begin the work of building a new utopian world. It was started with simple faith, a mule, two used pickups trucks, and some donated farm equipment. The original intent of the communards was to be agrarians-to tend livestock and raise gardens.

The challenge was to survive. Many forces threatened to dissolve the village. There was a lack of a strong economic base. The agrarian effort was plagued by many rains in this lowland area of Indiana. Sustenance originally consisted of home-canned foods and meat gained from hunting and fishing.

In 1968, a sawmilling venture was added to the agrarian effort. In this year, all efforts were put toward this more advanced technological effort so that the Settlement might have a strong economic base for the growing population of new joiners. The villagers had dominance over the means of production and distribution of the goods which were owned collectively by the participants.

Each new year saw technological improvements to make working conditions better and the economic base stronger. The whole process of sawmilling, from procuring the raw materials to transporting the finished lumber, was handled by the villagers. There were available three basic commodities: labor, raw materials, and ideas.

A business venture grew from nothing to an economic force. A five-room house grew to many lodges. The sawmill continued to expand and support all the new inhabitants of the village-the men and women who came and the children who were born into the communal life.

In 1977, the Padanaram Sawmill had expanded to the point that it was necessary to move its location closer to the main highways. It was moved forty miles from the Village to Bloomington, Indiana and the business complex now includes Imperial Lumber Company and Good Earth Compost Company. The Sawmill is a technological marvel, and all of the jobs that were once hard grueling work have been replaced by mechanization. While it started as a wooden, Corley carriage mill, it has progressed to become one of the most modern sawmills in the area. Timber is selectively cut, and environmentally appropriate techniques are used to repair the land.

The School

In September of 1972 the school was started as an essential alternative. The children of Padanaram needed a school suitable to the ideals and principles of their communal lifestyle. The ideas and principles adhered to by the communal inhabitants were merely extended to embrace the activities and functions of the school.

The first schoolhouse was a small, black and white, used trailer, snuggled away in the thick woods. There was no pretence of sophistication or traditional formalism in that simple, one-room school. The teacher with her first six pupils worked together honestly and openly in their endeavor to gain a greater knowledge of life.

After one year, the school was moved to a quaint, three-story log cabin. The intimate character of the rustic school building, the eleven children now involved, and the lack of experience among the three teachers, created an atmosphere of learning on the part of the teacher as well as the student. In 1975, the school was moved to a beautiful, rough-sawn, wood building. Here were introduced many new opportunities because of its arrangement into five separate classrooms along the large, open space around the central,circular fireplace.

While the early elementary grades K-3 continued in small group study, a change for the older students was made in 1985. A Learning Center directed toward individualized study for grades 4 through 12 was added. Carrels were built, and all students studied within one large room. While mornings are devoted to academic study based on a core curriculum of math, language, arts, science, social studies and spelling, the afternoons focus on mini-courses.


THE FIVE PRINCIPLES:

As one would that others do, do unto them.

    *The harvest we reap are the seeds we've sown

Hold all things in common count nothing one's own.

    *All the pure rivers flow back to the sea.

Distribution to each according to their need.

    *The warmth of the sun is shared by all.

Of one who has much, much is required.

     *Footprints in the soil are according to the load.

One that won't work, neither shall he eat.

     *If the hand is not lifted, the mouth is not fed.
  1. ↑ Sutton, Robert P. (2003). Communal utopias and the American experience: religious communities, 1732-2000. Westport, Connecticut, United States: Praeger Publishers. pp. 164 and following. ISBN 0-275-97554-1.


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