Charles Garland and his Love Farm

Elon Musk, stand back!

If you inherited a ton of money at a young age, you too might be confused about how to live. At first, you might radically decide not to accept the fortune. Then, you might decide to use it for charitable purposes. Finally, you might opt to establish a free-love commune.

That's the path that one Charles Garland took. Read his whole story at Wikipedia.

After his separation from his wife, Garland established two successive agricultural communes, or "colonies of idealists", both named April Farm.[19] The first April Farm, in which Garland lived from January 1922, was at North Carver, Massachusetts.[22] In 1924, Garland moved to a new "April Farm" in Lower Milford Township, Pennsylvania.[19]

Garland scandalized polite society by inviting young women to live with him at these colonies, where he planned to "work out the problems of life".

Naturally, newspapers had a field day with all this.

Who We Are
Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Thu Nov 10, 2022
Category: Money | Communes, Utopias, and Other Alternative Societies | Public Indecency | Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers | 1920s

Comments

Damn hippies. It says he eventually got close to his original dream of being an auto mechanic; he was a machinist, after working at an automobile factory in the Soviet Union.

Posted by Virtual in Carnate on 11/10/22 at 07:45 AM

I remember reading about a free love organization from around the early 1900's that failed due to STDs.

Posted by Phil on 11/11/22 at 04:41 AM

I like the way the news story lists the woman as a “flapper,” as if that were her occupation…

Posted by Brian on 11/11/22 at 04:24 PM

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.