Greetings from Cherry Hill Cohousing (formerly called “Pioneer Valley Cohousing Community”; name changed in October 2022). Thank you for your interest in our community. We invite you to visit! When you come, we will be glad to give you a tour of the community, including our Common House and at least one of our individual homes. We have regular common meals on Monday and Wednesday evenings, and we can sign you in for dinner if we have at least 3 days notice.
One of the best ways to get to know us, and to understand the dynamics of cohousing, is to attend one of our meetings. Full Circle meetings happen about every four weeks, rotating among Saturday and Sunday mornings and afternoons and some weekday evenings.
We maintain a list of people interested in purchasing homes. There are a number of steps you must take to get on the list, which we call our “waiting pool.” We are always open to having new people in our waiting pool, and people who are in it get early notification of houses going on the market. Our occasional rentals are arranged by individual home owners.
We are legally organized as a condominium association, but we make decisions through a form of governance known as Dynamic Governance. Please read the page “Work and Governance” under the heading “Our Community” on this site to learn more about Dynamic Governance.
We are 32 households, from single people to families of 7. As members, we number roughly 55 adults and 16 children. Associate members (nearby neighbors who are an active part of our neighborhood) also contribute greatly. We strive for diversity, and we have diversity in terms of age, sexual orientation, religious background, and, to some extent, class and race. We are hoping, always, for more diversity. The main floor of the Common House is wheelchair accessible, and some of our homes have some accommodations for people with disabilities.
All the houses are owner occupied (there are occasional temporary exceptions to this), and some of us share our houses with partners, relatives and renters. We are located in a beautiful spot near cross country ski and hiking trails and a town pond. To find out more about living in our area, please go to the link “Living in Massachusetts.”
The book Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves by Kathryn McCamant & Charles Durrett gives a real flavor of cohousing and its history.
The web site www.cohousing.org provides detailed information about the history of cohousing and about cohousing communities across the country.
We’ll be happy to tell you more and answer your questions when you email, call or visit.
To inquire for information by email, or to schedule a visit, contact us at ch.info@cohousing.com.
Approved: Nov 2023