Tawapa

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Tawapa
Hippie commune
Tawapa
Coordinates: 35°19′30″N106°25′32″W / 35.324865°N 106.425678°W / 35.324865; -106.425678
CountryUnited States
StateNew Mexico
County Sandoval County
Establishedc. 1970
Dissolved1990s
Government
 • Type Commune

Tawapa was a hippie commune that operated north of Placitas, New Mexico. [1] It was founded around 1970 and dissolved in the 1990s. It was located along Las Huertas Creek near the Sandia Mountains. [1] [2] A spring flowed through Tawapa. Watercress grew by the spring. [3]

Contents

History

Lower Farm

At the commune of Lower Farm one Donald Waskey [3] [4] [5] called himself Ulysses, claiming to be the reincarnation of Ulysses S. Grant. [5] He also claimed to be the reincarnation of Vulcan and Jesus Christ. [6] He made a tongue-in-cheek attempt to run for governor of New Mexico in 1969, [7] and murdered two people [3] [4] [6] in 1970. [7] He was the commune's self-proclaimed leader. [3]

Tawapa

In the late 1960s or early 1970s, due to problems at Lower Farm, several couples left and founded Tawapa [8] along Las Huertas Creek. [1] Many people, especially youth, settled in Tawapa in the 1970s. The commune grew by word of mouth and through magazine articles. [2] They constructed houses there. [1] The commune appeared on a map of hippie communes, drawing more people. [8] Several other communes were founded in the area, such as Sun Farm [9] and Dome Valley. [2] The people living in Tawapa claimed adverse possession over the land. [1] However, they were ultimately evicted by people holding legal title. [1] Housing developments in the 1990s forced people to leave Tawapa. [10]

Post-disestablishment

Later, environmental damage was caused by the increasing number of houses, as well as groundwater mining. [11] [12] [13] The spring mostly ran dry, while Sun Farm experienced a water shortage in the late 2010s and early 2020s. [11] [12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Julyan, Robert (1998). The place names of New Mexico (2nd ed, rev ed.). Albuquerque: Univ. of New Mexico Press. p. 348. ISBN   978-0-8263-1689-9.
  2. 1 2 3 Smith, Mike (2006). Towns of the Sandia Mountains. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub. ISBN   978-0-7385-4852-4. OCLC   76884067.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Anderson, Kay Kind Bradley (February 6, 2024). As Best I Can Remember: What's a nice Jewish girl from Philadelphia doing in a place like this? (1st ed.). Outskirts Press. ISBN   9781977264749.
  4. 1 2 Matthews, Kay (2015). Culture clash: environmental politics in New Mexico forest communities: a memoir, 1970-2000. Santa Fe: Sunstone Press. ISBN   978-1-63293-005-7.
  5. 1 2 Fairfield, Richard (1972). Communes USA; a personal tour. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books. ISBN   978-0-14-003489-9.
  6. 1 2 Price, Roberta; Miles, George, eds. (2010). Across the great divide: a photo chronicle of the counterculture. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN   978-0-8263-4957-6.
  7. 1 2 "Waskey believed MURDERED!!". The Independent-Record. 1988-12-23. p. 9. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
  8. 1 2 "Flashbacks". newmexicomagazine.org. 2013-03-08. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  9. ↑ Miller, Timothy (2012). "New Mexico's Communal Settlers". New Mexico Historical Review.
  10. ↑ Hovey, Kathryn (2005). Anarchy and community in the new American West: Madrid, New Mexico, 1970–2000. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN   978-0-8263-3446-6.
  11. 1 2 "Will the little places of New Mexico survive economic growth?". NM Political Report. 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  12. 1 2 "Healing Clan". NM Healthy Soil Working Group. 2022-04-18. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  13. ↑ Scurlock, Dan (1998). From the Rio to the Sierra: An environmental history of the Middle Rio Grande Basin (Report). Ft. Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. doi: 10.2737/rmrs-gtr-5 .
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