A brief description of Cantines Island Cohousing

This is the first post to this blog, which will display events at Cantine's Island, a cohousing community in Saugerties, NY. Cohousing is a stop on the line between isolated suburbia and commune living.

We own our own homes, but share most of the 10-acre site (homesites run about a quarter of an acre). We have 12 houses, plus a common house on the original oval, with four more homes up the hill across the parking lot from the oval. Residents park on the lot, not next to their homes, creating a safe environment for kids to play.

We have meals in the community "common house" three times a week, or more often if a family wants to celebrate an event (birthday, holiday etc.) with the community at large.

The shared space includes a long strip along the Esopus River, just below the artificial waterfall that was once a power dam. We have a boat house, a swimming dock and picknic tables. In a conventional development, no more than two houses would have waterfront access.

There's a lot more to say about how cohousing works and why it beats the normal suburban development, but that's enough for a start.