Druid Heights

About

Druid Heights was a counterculture enclave in Marin County, California, U.S. that lasted through most of the last half of the 20th century. Poet Elsa Gidlow purchased the property near the Muir Woods National Monument in 1954. She split the land with Roger and Mary Somers. In 1956, Elsa named her portion Druid Heights. Today the entire site is called by this moniker although in reality the enclave's neighbors seldom used the name. The community was not a monolith. Residents of the enclave shared common values and responsibilities concomitant with the remote site's lack of services. It had no city water system, no sewers, and no city maintenance for the enclave's three-mile-long dirt road. The enclave's 12 residents and others living along the road pooled money and resources to maintain these vital services. These challenges demanded they work together in harmony. The remoteness and uniqueness of the site attracted members of various countercultural movements and many figures of the San Francisco Renaissance.