{"id":56,"ordinal":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:33:18","content_modified":"2026-04-17 19:33:18","featured":0,"title":"Intentional Communities in the Intermountain West","creator":"Evan Železny-Green, Northern Arizona University","description":"<p>Intentional communities have long been part of the American experience; perhaps inspired by the large expanses of unspoiled and inexpensive land, people wishing to live outside of mainstream culture and build what they saw as ideal communities have done so starting with the Shakers in the 18th century. This tour features five radically different intentional communities in the Intermountain West, representing a variety of ideas that brought people together, from religious motivation to racial hatred to a desire to live in harmony with the Earth. They all meet the criteria for intentional community postulated by Professor Timothy Miller of the University of Kansas, including a sense of common purpose and of separation from the dominant society, living in close proximity, economic sharing, and a size greater than a single family.</p>","postscript_text":"","tour_img":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/6dacaae9fe0157eec7e32948bb70d7a4.jpg","items":[{"id":703,"title":"Back to the Land","latitude":36.5331954013865214392353664152324199676513671875,"longitude":-105.684642203231049961686949245631694793701171875,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/6dacaae9fe0157eec7e32948bb70d7a4.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/6dacaae9fe0157eec7e32948bb70d7a4.jpg","subtitle":"New Buffalo","address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":704,"title":"Polygamy on the State Line","latitude":36.9885799999999989040588843636214733123779296875,"longitude":-112.9752610000000032641764846630394458770751953125,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/1b0bce102b2c4e32a46d16d967d6663f.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/1b0bce102b2c4e32a46d16d967d6663f.jpg","subtitle":"Short Creek Settlement","address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":705,"title":"The Children of Aaron","latitude":39.11517789999999905603544902987778186798095703125,"longitude":-113.9444897999999994908648659475147724151611328125,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/67e193c5427ffaf63d27a421ba0ef2e9.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/67e193c5427ffaf63d27a421ba0ef2e9.jpg","subtitle":"EskDale","address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":706,"title":"Aryan Nations Compound","latitude":47.81704728140703508643127861432731151580810546875,"longitude":-116.743360879396988138978485949337482452392578125,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/ccbe800e83299d88222551b757292630.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/ccbe800e83299d88222551b757292630.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":707,"title":"Serving My People and the Earth Mother","latitude":47.84655599999999964211383485235273838043212890625,"longitude":-117.753388999999998532075551338493824005126953125,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/8e7de5dc5d0dc54c37cd2525860f464c.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/8e7de5dc5d0dc54c37cd2525860f464c.jpg","subtitle":"Bear Tribe Medicine Society","address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}}]}