An experimental commune born from the 60s counterculture, championing self-sufficiency, free love, and communal living in the wilderness of Northern California.
Founded: 1968
Location: Siskiyou County, California, United States
Other Names: Black Bear Family, Black Bear Commune
Black Bear Ranch is an intentional community and commune located in Siskiyou County, in the remote wilderness of Northern California, approximately 25 miles from Forks of Salmon. An 80-acre property, it was founded in 1968 under the watchword “free land for free people,” and has been regarded by participants and commentators alike as one of the more radical examples of communal living to emerge from the counterculture of the 1960s.
Background and Site History
The land on which the ranch stands has a multifaceted post-colonial history. The discovery of gold in the region during the 19th century drew miners, loggers, settlers, and government agents who exploited the land without regard for the indigenous peoples already living there. The site itself was once a mill town fed by ore carts from the nearby Black Bear Mine. At its peak, Black Bear was an incorporated settlement with a post office, a general store, and a population numbering in the thousands. The mill site was owned by John Daggett, the Lieutenant Governor of California. With the depletion of timber and the closure of the mine, large-scale industry ceased, and the area returned largely to wilderness. By the time the commune was established, the site was a ghost town.
Founding
In 1968, the land known as Black Bear Ranch was collectively purchased by members of the San Francisco Digger diaspora who came to live on the land. The Diggers were a countercultural activist group known for providing free food, housing, and services in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, and Black Bear represented their ambition to take those ideals to a rural, self-sufficient setting.
The founders raised the purchase price of $22,000 by approaching popular entertainers of the era — including the Doors and the Monkees — and telling them that they were “making money off our lifestyle” and that it was time to give something back. The commune was founded on the idea of “Free Land for Free People” and financed by the largesse of a few benefactors in Hollywood. Some accounts also note that funds were supplemented by proceeds from a large LSD deal.
Among the notable early members were Richard and Elsa Marley, who served as anchor figures for the community. Other prominent early residents included Harriet Beinfeld, Peter Coyote, Geba Greenberg, Efrem Korngold, and Osha Neumann.
Ideology and Internal Politics
From its inception, Black Bear Ranch was ideologically contested terrain. The original group was not simply envisioning a commune in the conventional sense; some founders described it in terms of a mountain fortress in the spirit of Che Guevara, where city activists could hide out, practice riflery, engage in hand grenade training, and otherwise prepare for radical political action.
Despite their remoteness, the community maintained contact with a variety of radical groups, including the Hells Angels and Black Power organizations. A persistent tension existed between those with a paramilitary persuasion — who wanted weapons training and the sheltering of radical political fugitives — and the many pacifists among the membership.
An FBI memo produced at the time stated: “Commune might be a training ground for militants planning insurrection in Northern California.” At least one resident, Harriet Beinfeld, acknowledged involvement with the Black Panthers and described the ranch partly as a refuge from urban political heat.
Internally, the commune also struggled with questions of motivation and labor. One of the founders, quoted in Timothy Miller’s study of 1960s communes, described a faction of “dependent people” who read comic books and waited for others to cook and light fires — prompting a reformist response called the “Black Bear Get-With-It Party,” whose founders nailed a credo to the door of the main house in a gesture self-consciously modeled on Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, declaring: “We came up here to take over the world, to take over our own lives, and as a first step, we’re announcing that we’re going to take over Black Bear Ranch.”
Daily Life and Self-Sufficiency
Black Bear Ranch learned to operate with a high degree of self-sufficiency, as the ranch was frequently snowed in for extended periods during winter months and was many hours’ drive from the nearest city. Residents gathered large quantities of food and medical supplies, treated illnesses on site, delivered babies, and performed veterinary care. The community homeschooled its children and maintained equipment such as chainsaws and vehicles without relying on outside mechanics.
To generate income for food and supplies, residents found work fighting fires in the surrounding forests. Community members were also key organizers of Ent Forestry, a cooperative that took tree planting and forest rehabilitation contracts with the U.S. Forest Service and Redwoods National Park, providing revenue to the commune for several years.
The community’s social norms were deliberately unconventional. Life at the ranch encompassed shared clothing, group childrearing, and open sexuality, though these arrangements frequently generated jealousy and interpersonal strain.
Governance
Decision-making at the ranch operates through “Circles,” regular group meetings at which communal matters are discussed and resolved. Members are required to contribute a minimum of three hours of work per day, six days a week. A minimum daily financial contribution is also expected. Residency decisions and other significant matters are determined by a three-quarters vote of current residents and at least five trustees.
Ranch guidelines prohibit disruptive addictive habits such as drug and alcohol abuse, limit residents to no more than two firearms, and require members to notify others when leaving the property. Women-and-children-only gatherings are held each summer, during which male residents must vacate the site. The most significant community holidays are Thanksgiving and the Summer Solstice.
Legal Ownership and Trust
The commune’s legal ownership was held by one resident, Richard Marley, until 1987, when it was transferred to the Black Bear Family Trust, which limits development of the property and established trustees to oversee various specified duties. The trust is composed of everyone who has ever spent a winter at the ranch, creating a broadly distributed stewardship model consistent with the commune’s non-hierarchical ethos.
Notable Incidents
The Shiva Lila (1979). In 1979, a nomadic group called the Shiva Lila, who described themselves as worshippers of children, descended on Black Bear and began attempting to take over the ranch, representing one of the more alarming episodes in its history.
The Tad Cummins Case (2017). In April 2017, Black Bear Ranch made national news when 15-year-old Tennessee student Elizabeth Thomas and her convicted kidnapper — former teacher Tad Cummins — were discovered in a cabin near Cecilville, California, following a month-long interstate manhunt. The pair had stayed for two weeks at Black Bear Ranch but were asked to leave, after which they moved into the nearby cabin where they were eventually found.
Legacy, Criticism, and Continuing Life
Some critics, including former members and Indigenous scholars, have raised the issue of settler entitlement in the commune’s founding. A letter from former members acknowledged that Black Bear Ranch was established on land stolen from indigenous peoples, noting that the founders, despite their revolutionary ideals, had not fully reckoned with this history.
Perspectives from former residents vary sharply. Aaron Marley, son of founders Richard and Elsa Marley, became a biochemist and pursued what he described as a conventional life. Looking back, he characterized himself and the other children raised at the ranch as “lab rats: experimental tools for their parents.”
The community continues to exist today, guided by a set of “Traditional Guidelines” intended to ensure “the continued existence of Black Bear Ranch and its tradition of communal living in a way that cares for and nourishes each other and the environment.”
In Popular Culture
Black Bear Ranch was the subject of the 2005 documentary Commune, directed by Jonathan Berman, which explored the founding, daily life, internal conflicts, and multigenerational legacy of the community. The film premiered at SXSW and screened at numerous international documentary festivals, and has been broadcast on PBS and several international networks.
Sources
- Black Bear Ranch Official Website — History Page https://blackbearranch.org/history/
- Heavy.com — “Black Bear Ranch California Commune: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know” (April 2017) https://heavy.com/news/2017/04/black-bear-ranch-commune-tad-cummins-elizabeth-thomas-california-hippie-website-cecilville/
- PopMatters — Review of Commune (October 2007) https://www.popmatters.com/commune-2496204078.html
- JFI Film Archive — Commune (film description) https://jfi.org/programs/jfi-film-archive/commune
- James Bowman — Review of Commune (November 2006) https://jamesbowman.net/2006/11/commune/
- IMDB — Commune (2005) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439511/
image via North Coast Journal
