Hiker blogs about his Stoneybrook Twelve Tribes farm experience
Extract from blog: Take a hike Mike-June 2014
Tues 6/24
Sloth and I hiked three miles to Keys Gap and got a ride to Stoneybrook Farm where we got to stay and work for the day.
We got showers and did laundry then worked planting sweet potatoes and picking weeds.
The farm is run by the Twelve Tribes. Although they don’t consider themselves a religious cult, they definetly are. Similar to other hippie cults from the 60s and 70s, this group has small communes around the world. Members sign over all possessions to the group and follow the strict guidelines put forth by a single leader, in this case, the founder, Elbert Spriggs. The group tries to bring in thru hikers thinking that many hikers are unsatisfied with American society and will be sympathic to their lifestyle. The group hopes to open hostels in every trail town along the AT. This is their intertribal newsletter showing where they hope to open hostels to sucker in hikers.
Members are deprived access to outside news and information. The children have no toys and members are required to beat the children when they misbehave. The group was really interesting and I wanted to stay longer just for the ethnographic value. Also, they fed us and the food there was really good.
For another hiker’s experience with Stoneybrook Farm Virginia: My accidental sleep over with a cult
