A BRUEF HISTORY OF CYRUS TEED AND THE KORESHANS

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The bread contained yeast causing it to rise so the local
folks of the surrounding town call it “Rising Bread”.
The town folks loved it because the bread they were used
to was bread cooked in a skillet on the stove and called
Skillet Bread.

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Skillet Bread

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THE DINING HALL, KITCHEN AND WOMEN’S DORM
(The hall was condemned and torn
down in 1949).

To the east side of the bakery was a
three-story building used as a
women’s dorm, kitchen, and
common eating area. At the time of
the buildings construction, it was
the tallest building in Lee County.
The dining area could seat all of
the Unity members, men on one
side and women on the other. In the
center was a raised platform where
Cyrus and Victoria would eat when
they were there.

When the membership started to decline due to Dr. Teed's death, and the onset of the
depression in 1929 the property was not well maintained and the Dining Hall / Dorms
were condemned by the local building inspector and were torn down in 1949.

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The only artifact remaining is the dinner bell.
The Dinner Bell would be
rung four times a day.
Once, for breakfast, lunch and dinner and a
fourth time (around 10:00 PM) just before
the Unity would shut down the electric
generator.

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HOME OF VESTA NEWCOMB
Lillian “Vesta” Newcomb was born in 1878 and died in 1974 at the age of 95.

She lived in this small cottage until her death
in 1974. She joined the Unity when she was
9 or 10. Then when she was around 15 she
moved to Estero to live with the other
members. For a time she
lived in the women’s
dorm, then as a
housekeeper for
“Empress” Victoria
Gratia. Then she
moved to a small

above, where she lived out the remainder of her years. The home was
originally located on the east side of the Unity compound and was
used as a barber shop. Thus, the two doors – one for the barber
shop and the other for the living quarters of the barber.

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The home was moved from its original place east of
its location now to be used as living quarters for
Vesta. She was a loyal follower of the Unity and
did what she was asked to do to help. She never
married and never had any children.
Portrait of Koreshans Julius Koester and Vesta
Newcomb (1969) Vesta Newcomb, at age 90 was
alive to see the American Astronaut, Neal
Armstrong, walk on the moon in July of 1969.

When asked by reporters, from the Fort Myers
News-Press, about her belief in Cellular
Cosmogony (That is, that we live inside of the earth) she replied – “Well, I did believe it
until I saw the boys walking on the moon.” Lillian (Vista) Newcomb lived in the cabin
here at the Koreshan Park for another five years and passed at age 95.

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Following Teed's death late in 1908, the group went into decline. The property was
donated to the State of Florida and became a State Park in 1961. The four38 remaining
members lived out their lives on the grounds. Vesta Newcomb passed in 1974 and the
last member to die was Hedwig Michel which passed in 1982.

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38 Vesta Newcomb, Hedwig Michel, Conrad Schlender and Alfred Christianson.

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THE TENNIS COURT 157
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The Tennis Court, located just south
of the Vista Newcomb home, was
constructed in the late 1940s or early
1950s. It was broken into sections in
the late 1940’s or early 1950’s and
reused as road bed in the adjacent
Koreshan owned trailer park just
across the Estero River from the New
Store.

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THE MEMBER’S COTTAGE (1903 / 1904)

It is a one story cottage located north of the
Laundry House. It became the home of Conrad
Schlender (1876 – 1965) in the late 1920’s
during the depression era. Conrad Schlender’s
main job was farming and taking care of the
Unity’s cattle. Later the home was used as a guest
house for the guests of the Unity and was one of
two homes having an inside bathroom the
Plantation Court being the other. This house
would have been similar to those the male
members would have built using their credits for
hours worked.

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THE LAUNDRY HOUSE (No longer here)
All members of the Unity laundry were
done here at the laundry house. There
were between 5 & 7 members on staff.
There were three machines in the laundry
house: a washer; extractor and a tumbler.
The clothes were washed and then dried
by using a steam driven centrifugal spin-
drying machine (extractor) which turned
at a rate of three thousand (3000)
revolutions a minute. The centrifuge spun
so fast that it would almost entirely dry the

clothes. The clothing was hung out only for the purpose of letting the wrinkles fall out.

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THE LARGE MACHINE SHOP

The Laundry House would have stood just to the right end of the shop.
This one-story, wood frame structure, of irregular configuration, contained the steam
power equipment that served the adjacent laundry and supplied power to various
equipment used by the Unity. The south portion of the building, the laundry house, was
removed in the late 1940s or early1950s.

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THE SMALL MACHINE SHOP

The bowed roof has a unique, curved shape and is particularly evident from the inside of
the building. The workshop manufactured small and specialized tools and kitchen items
and provided timepiece and shoe repair.

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THE ELECTRIC GENERATOR BUILDING

A large structure, built of wood frame construction. The structure appears to have been
built with corrugated metal sides and roof. It provided electric power to the Koreshans.
While portions of the equipment remain, the majority was sold by the settlement in the
1930s and 40s when money was needed to maintain the settlement.

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Electric Generator Building was constructed in the early 1900’s and housed the
electrical generating equipment for the Settlement. The equipment was purchased and
shipped to the Koreshan Unity from the north and was generating electricity to the
buildings as early as 1912.39

THE FAIRBANKS-MORSE ENGINE
Eventually, a more powerful Fairbanks-Morse diesel engine replaced the original steam
engine. The Unity purchased the 80 HP Diesel Engine in June 1925 for $1932.00. It was
in service until August 1946 when Florida Power & Light (FPL) began servicing the area.
For more information on this building Google: The Generator Building at Koreshan State
Historic Site.

Engine Demonstration - Meet at the Generator Building in the Historic Koreshan
Settlement for demonstrations of early 1900s engines, including a Fairbanks Morse
Engine. 11:30 a.m. Wednesday during tourist season (from late October to early April)
and is free with park admission.

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39 http://koreshan.mwweb.org/teed_kshs.htm

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THE STORAGE SHED:

The storage shed is constructed of log (peeled cypress and pine).
Most likely the shed was used to store wood for the steam boiler used to power
equipment by the Koreshans. The Storage Shed stove.

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THE WOOD STOVE IN THE STORAGE SHED

The stove was originally used at a slave
camp - The Kingsley Plantation that was
located near Jacksonville Florida. From
there it was moved to Tallahassee Florida
and stored in a museum. Later Hedwig
Michel found out about it and had it
moved to Koreshan State Park and
restored and placed in the bakery. Then
from the bakery, it was placed in the
storage shed. It is still in use today. It is
now used by the Park to prepare some of
the food that was eaten by the Members.

Date of construction is unknown but assumed to be around 1910.

Photos of the Kingsley Slave Camp Plantation

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THE ANNA LEWIS HOME (Not open to visitors)
Anna Lewis and her husband Frank lived in the
house, which was built in approximately in 1930
or 1931 and deemed "El Retiro." According to a
sign posted in front of the home, the ownership of
the home upon the death of the Lewis’s would
revert to Koreshan
Unity.

Anna Lewis, who died
in 1972, was about 5
years old when she
and her mother and sister lived at Teed's communal colony
in Moravia, N.Y. Her husband, Frank Lewis, was an
accountant by trade but was one of the "trailblazers" who
scouted and laid out the route of Tamiami Trail from 1923
to 1928. Anna Lewis was postmistress for Everglades City.

Frank & Anna Lewis

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Hoggee rode mules or horses that pulled packets (canal boats) on the Erie Canal. Also,
they tended and cared for the animals pulling the boat.
Pack to Page 29
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Peter Hicks (History from a former Ranger at the Park.)
I. Cyrus Teed

(a) By Peter Hicks

Cyrus Read Teed was born on October 18, 1839, near Trout Creek, Delaware County,
New York. He was the second son born into a family of eight children. As early as 1637,
Teeds had lived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. By 1757, they had migrated to
Tompkins Township in Delaware County, New York, settling near Trout Creek in an area
that was known as Teedsville, fifteen miles from Walton. His father, Jesse Sears Teed,
was born there on June 24, 1814, and died at the Koreshan Unity home in Chicago,
Illinois on March 9, 1899. On his mother's side, he was directly descended from John
Read who came to America in 1630, settling in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. His great

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grandmother Lydia married the Reverend Oliver Tuttle of Bristol, Connecticut. His
mother, Sarah Ann Tuttle was born on October 27, 1815, in Bristol, Connecticut and died
at Moravia, New York October 25, 1885. Shortly after Cyrus was born, the family moved
to New Hartford, New York on the land of Grandfather Oliver Tuttle. At the age of
eleven, Cyrus quit school and went to work on the towpath of the Eire Canal. His family
wanted him to become a Baptist minister like his grandfather Tuttle, but Cyrus chose to
follow another relative and began studying medicine with his uncle, Dr. Samuel F. Teed
(a twenty-five-year-old allopathic physician) in Utica, New York. At this same time on
April 13, 1859, he married his second cousin, Fidelia M. Rowe of Meredith, New York.
Delia was the daughter of William and Polly Maria Tuttle Rowe.

2. On February 21, 1860, a son, Douglas Arthur Teed was born. Cyrus moved his small
family to New York City in 1862, living in Brooklyn and continuing his medical studies.
He enlisted in Company F, 127th New York Infantry of the New York volunteers as a
corporal on August 9, 1862, at the age of twenty-two. On April 12, 1863, he was assigned
to Brigade Headquarters. While on the march near Warrenton Junction, Virginia on
August 1, 1863, he suffered sunstroke which led to paralysis of his left arm and leg. He
was assigned to Ward 2, bed 71 at the General Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia where he
was treated for sixty-one days until his release (August 7, 1863-October 16, 1863). He
was granted a discharge from the army and returned to New York City to complete his
medical studies at the Eclectic Medical College of the City of New York, graduating in

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February 1868. He returned to Utica and rejoined his uncle. Below their office, they hung
a sign in foot high letters which said: "He who deals out poison, deals out death". They
were referring to drugs - a very busy pharmacy, the Watford Drug Store, a half block
away shows no record of the Teeds ever writing a prescription. However, below the
doctors' office was a tavern, and people found this reference to poison very humorous.
This was a brief, happy time. In 1869, he lived in Deerfield, just outside of Utica. Next to
his home he set up a laboratory.

3. In the autumn of 1869, Cyrus had what he later referred to as his "Illumination". While
working in his laboratory, he claimed to have changed lead into gold - alchemy. He
called this knowledge the "Philosopher's Stone". Later that evening he had a vision in
which he saw God in the form of a beautiful woman and learned the secret of the
Universe and his place in it (Isaiah 11:10, Isaiah 44:28). The Koreshan God had a male-
female aspect. Later Koreshan prayers would be to the Mother-Father God. He was told
that he would interpret the symbols of the Bible for the scientific age. The nature of the
Universe was revealed to him. The Earth was enclosed, and we live on the inside - the
Cellular Cosmology (Isaiah 40:12). Others have held the hollow earth view before him -
Dr. Edmond Halley, Sir John Leslie, John Cleves Symmes, Jules Verne in "Journey to the
Center of the Earth" in 1864, and W.F. Lyons in "The Hollow Globe" in 1868. The
experiment on Naples beach from March through April 1897 was an attempt to prove the
Cellular Cosmology. These beliefs - about the nature of God and the nature of the

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Universe were very important to the Koreshans in later years. Annie G. Ordway became
the helper promised to Cyrus in his illumination. He gave her the title of "dual associate".
Women were major factors in the development of the Koreshan Unity. Evelyn Bubbett
ran the printing house in Chicago and established a Woman's Mission there. "We live
inside" was a popular way Koreshans addressed themselves.

4. The 1870's were unsettled times for Dr. Teed. Following his illumination, his medical
practice declined and he was no longer able to support his family. He was known as the
"crazy doctor".
He moved to Binghamton, New York and established a practice there. He was aided by
Dr. A.W.K. Andrews. Dr. Andrews and his wife Virginia became lifelong friends and
could be counted among the first Koreshans. In 1873 Cyrus and Dr. Andrews visited the
communal home of the Harmony Society in Economy, Pennsylvania and were
entertained by Father Henrici and the Board of Trustees. He saw firsthand the everyday
workings of a communal society, a model of celibacy and communism. Unfortunately, at
this time Mrs. Teed's health began to fail. From 1874-1876 he practiced medicine in
Equinunk, Wayne County, Pennsylvania. By 1878, he was back with his parents in
Moravia, New York. In the winter of 1878-1879 he had a successful practice at Sandy
Creek (between Syracuse and Watertown) except people were slow to pay him. He edited
a daily newspaper there called "Herald of the Messenger of the New Covenant of the
New Jerusalem". None of these have survived although a few articles were reprinted in

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the Flaming Sword on October 18, 1901. In 1878 Dr. Teed was admitted to membership
in the North Family of Shakers at Lebanon, New York. His contact with the Shakers and
the Harmonists was laying a foundation for his own communal group. During this time,
he also practiced medicine in Binghamton, Trout Creek, Connersville, and Deposit in
Delaware County. By August 20, 1880, he was back in Utica and by the end of the year
he had established a communal home in Moravia and was running the family mop
business. Members of this first group were his mother and father, his sister Zanetta, his
sister Emma and her husband Albert E. Norton, his brother Oliver, Mrs. Sarah E.
Paterson, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Mertoh, and Ellen and Ada Deane. By this time, his wife
was invalid due to tuberculosis. She went to stay with her sister, Mrs. Wickham, in
Binghamton. Her son went with her.

5. After two years the mop business failed. The communal home was also criticized when
Mrs. Ellen M. Woolsey left her husband to join the group. It became necessary for Cyrus
to leave Moravia and begin practicing medicine again. This time, he went to Syracuse,
New York. By 1883, his practice was thriving and he was joined by his brother Oliver,
who had graduated from the Philadelphia National Eclectic Medical Association in 1868,
and by his sister Emma. Their medical office "The Syracuse Institute of Progressive
Medicine", located at 1 Wolf Block, West Onondaga Street, attracted the best people. The
good times came to an end on August 9, 1884, when he was sued by Mrs. Charles Cobb
and her mother, Mrs. Willis of Camden, New York. He was accused of obtaining money

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from them by saying he was the second Christ. Dr. Teed answered the suit by saying he
considered the money a donation and that he would gladly return it. The amount was
$25.00 ($5.00 from Mrs. Cobb's son's piggy bank) which was returned and the matter
dropped. Cyrus gave a public lecture on August 31, 1884, titled "The Science of
Immortal Life". However, things were never to be the same in Syracuse and he soon left
for New York City. His residence there was a third floor flat at 135th Street near 8th
Avenue in a communal home with four ladies - one his sister and another his cousin.
Hard times forced the end of this small group. By 1886, he was not able to continue.

National Association of Mental Science
Then he received an invitation to speak at the convention of the National Association of
Mental Science in Chicago. Mrs. Thankful H. Hale, who had known Dr. Teed in New
York, got him an invitation and also sent him money for the trip. The convention was
held at the Church of the Redeemer on Washington Boulevard from September 8th
through September 13th. Dr. Teed spoke on Saturday and on Sunday, the last day of the
convention; he gave a lecture entitled, "The Brain" followed by faith healing. He cured a
woman who couldn't walk and was a great success.

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Two days before the convention, on September 6, 1886, a communal home was
organized in Chicago. In a very short time the Guiding Star Publishing House, the
Assembly of the Covenant (Church Triumphant), and the World College of Life - a
school of metaphysics - had been established, mostly with members of the Mental
Science Group. Mrs. Annie G. Ordway, who was to be a key figure in following years,
became the head of the Society Arch Triumphant (general membership) in 1887. Dr.
Teed's message was attractive to middle-class, educated women. Another communal
home was begun at 2-4 College Place, the corner of 33rd Place and Cottage Grove
Avenue opposite Groveland Park. This building had been occupied by the Seventh Day
Adventists. The Koreshans signed a three-year lease.

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6. 1890 began with Dr. Teed seeking to expand his community. Mrs. Mary Singer started
a colony in California at 218-20 Noe Street in San Francisco. It was dissolved in 1892
and moved to Chicago with twenty-five people. Henry Silverfriend was sent to Economy,
Pennsylvania to live with the Harmony Society for a year. It was a dream of Dr. Teed's to
unify the many utopian communities into a "Confederation of Celibate Societies". He
was in contact with Thomas Lake Harris of the "Brotherhood of the New Life" at
Fountain Grove, near Santa Rosa, California, Frederick Evans of the Shakers, and John
Duss of the Harmony Society. In the spring of 1892, Koresh and three Sisters visited the
Shakers. Annie Ordway was made a member of the North Family of the Shakers at Mt.
Lebanon, New York. Dr. Teed was described at this time as 5'6" tall weighing 165lbs. Up
until 1891, he had never shaved. After that date, he was clean shaven and always wore
spectacles. His hat size was 7 and his neck size was 15". He had a deep voice and a
penetrating stare.

He spoke in a forceful manner and his lectures and sermons rarely lasted less than two
hours. In 1891, he began to write and refer to himself as Koresh. On May 1, 1892, the
Koreshans rented an estate at 99th and Oak in Washington Heights, Illinois that they
named Beth Ophra (home of Gideon 6:11). There was a mansion and seven cottages on
eight and a half acres of land. A printing office was established in what had been the
barn. In later years, it would be remembered as a place with beautiful flower beds and
tree-lined walks. Two ponds were perfect for ice skating in the winter. And there was

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enough room for Annie Ordway to take over one of the cottages for her cats. At this time
there were one hundred and ten members, of which eighty-three were women. Two
lawsuits were brought against Dr. Teed at this time - Miller vs.Teed, Case G 103382,
Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, and Cole vs. Teed, Case G 103461, Circuit Court
of Cook County, Illinois. Both suits had the same attorney, William H. Hill, and the same
wording, dealing with Dr. Teed's views on woman's rights.

They were dropped, the first on March 13, 1894, and the second on June 23, 1897. On
May 25, 1892, he was sued by A.A. Exline, Case G 104606, for $200.00. This was settled
for $59.00 and costs. These suits were mostly harassment, but they had an effect. In 1893,
Koresh was riding a train from Pittsburgh to Chicago after a speaking engagement when
a fellow traveler told him about a development for sale on Pine Island in Southwest
Florida. Rail passes were available for those interested and Koresh was able to get three.
On December 6, 1893, he got on the train from Chicago to Punta Gorda, accompanied by
Annie Ordway and Berthaldine Sterling Boomer. They met a Mr. Whitehead who showed
them the property at St. James City. The cost was too much for the Koreshans,
$150,000.00. They regretfully returned to Chicago. But before they left, Koresh left
copies of the Flaming Sword at the cable station at Punta Rassa. Gustave Damkohler
came to pick up his mail and read the Flaming Swords. He wrote Koresh and invited him
down.

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The letter was sent in a Watchtower of Zion envelope, covered with prophetic sayings,
and even though Damkohler had written in German and it took time to get the letter
translated, they felt it contained good news. On December 26, 1893, Koresh, Mary Mills,
Berthaldine Boomer, and Annie Ordway left Chicago for Punta Gorda. Mrs. Boomer sold
some land that she owned and used the money to finance the trip. The party took the train
from Chicago to Punta Gorda and then took a boat to Punta Rassa. They spent the night at
the abandoned cattleman’s' hotel there and were met by Damkohler and his son Elwin the
next morning. Damkohler borrowed a boat (the "Guide") from a friend and they sailed on
to Mound Key where they ate supper. Then they transferred to two rowboats to proceed
up the Estero River, arriving at what is now Bamboo Landing at 10:00PM on January 1,
1894. On January 7th, Dr. Teed spoke at the Baptist Church in the afternoon and evening.
They stayed with Damkohler for six weeks, and he agreed to sell his 320 acres to the
Koreshans.

The title was transferred on November 19, 1894. Meanwhile, the first group of Koreshans
left Chicago on January 11th and arrived on January 20th (five people), followed by a
group of twenty who left Chicago on January 31 and arrived February 6th. The new
colony was in full swing. Dr. Teed also bought land from William T. Dodd in 1894 at
what was to become Horseshoe Bend (Lee County Closed Index of Deeds, L-Z Grantee
from 1887 - July 1, 1922). Dodd's house had fallen apart and was known as Skeleton
House. Later, the Koreshans put their first cemetery there.

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7. The Florida colony grew and became more important than Chicago. On September 23,
1903, the Koreshan Unity was incorporated using the structure of the Standard Oil
Company of New Jersey as its model. Capital stock in the amount of $1,000.00 was
issued with Evelyn Bubbett having 45 shares, Henry Silverfriend having 45 shares, and
Dr. Teed having the remaining 10 shares for a total of 100 shares. Later, the capital stock
was increased to $200,000.00 with Dr. Teed having 289 shares, a majority.
On November 17, 1903, the last Koreshans left Chicago, bringing with them fifteen train
carloads of possessions and equipment. There were two hundred people at Estero as 1904
began. On September 1, 1904, a meeting was held to incorporate Estero. The Koreshans
had fifty-eight registered voters, much more than the twenty-five needed. At that time
there were forty-nine Republican voters and four hundred forty-six Democrats in the
county. One hundred ten square miles of land was included in Estero, eight of them
water.
Between 1894-1908, the Koreshans acquired 5,736 acres of land at a cost of $3,310.
Businesses at Estero included; Utilities and Electrical Works, Sculpture and Concrete
Works, Tin Works, Mattress Making Shop, Hat and Basket Weaving Shop, Shoe Shop,
Blacksmith Shop, Print Shop, Laundry, Dining Hall, Saw Mill, and Boat Works. They
bought a furniture plant in Bristol Tennessee in 1906 for $75,000.00 and were negotiating
with the government of Honduras for a grant of 200,000 acres of land for colonization.
They bought the San Carlos Hotel in St. James City as a possible site for the World
College of Life.

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However, it burned down on July 26, 1905, while it was being remodeled. Acreage on
Mound Key was bought from Frank Johnson. Political problems arose and the American
Eagle newspaper was begun June 7, 1906. The Koreshans felt that they weren't getting
their fair share of road taxes and ran a slate of candidates in the election of 1906. They
were prevented from running in the Democratic primary because separately and they had
voted as a block for Teddy Roosevelt in the 1904 election. It began as fun with the
Koreshan band playing and the newspaper attacking the other candidates, but this
changed on October 13, 1906. While meeting the 1:30PM Atlantic Coast Line train from
Baltimore, a group of Koreshans got into a fight in front of R.W. Gillams grocery store in
Ft. Myers. Dr. Teed tried to break it up but was attacked by town, Marshal S. W.
Sanchez. Dr. Teed was injured and arrested along with Richard Jansch and Claude Rahn.
They were taken to the Lee County Bank at the corner of 1st and Hendry Street where
they posted a bond of $10.00 each. They chose not to return for trial and the matter was
dropped. However, Koresh's condition from the beating worsened as time went on and
was believed to be the cause of his death two years later. He died on December 22, 1908
(the Winter Solstice). Many of his followers believed that he would be resurrected on
Christmas Day. Annie Ordway returned to Estero from Washington, D.C. where a new
Koreshan colony had been begun. Dr. J.E. Brecht pronounced him dead and made the
Koreshans bury him. He was entombed at the southern end of Estero Island on December
27, 1908.

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Peter Hicks was a former Ranger at the Koreshan State Historic Site
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HOLLOW EARTH THEORY
Cyrus Teed, an eccentric doctor from upstate New York, proposed such a concave hollow
Earth in 1869, calling his scheme "Cellular Cosmogony." Teed founded a cult called the
Koreshan Unity based on this notion, which he called Koreshanity. The main colony
survives as a preserved Florida state historic site, at Estero, but all of Teed's followers
have now died. Teed's followers claimed to have experimentally verified the concavity of
the Earth's curvature, through surveys of the Florida coastline making use of
"Rectilineator" equipment.

Several twentieth-century German writers, including Peter Bender, Johannes Lang, Karl
Neupert, and Fritz Braun, published works advocating the hollow Earth hypothesis, or
Hohlweltlehre. It has even been reported, although apparently without historical
documentation, that Adolf Hitler was influenced by concave hollow-Earth ideas and sent
an expedition in an unsuccessful attempt to spy on the British fleet by aiming infrared
cameras up into the sky (Wagner, 1999).

The Egyptian mathematician Mostafa Abdelkader authored several scholarly papers
working out a detailed mapping of the concave Earth model. See M. Abdelkader, "A
Geocosmos: Mapping Outer Space Into a Hollow Earth," 6 Speculations in Science &
Technology 81-89 (1983). Abstracts of two of Abdelkader's papers also appeared in
Notices of the American Mathematical Society, (Oct. 1981 and Feb. 1982).

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In one chapter of his book On the Wild Side (1992), Martin Gardner discusses the hollow
Earth model articulated by Abdelkader. According to Gardner, this hypothesis posits that
light rays travel in circular paths, and slow as they approach the center of the spherical
star-filled cavern. No energy can reach the center of the cavern, which corresponds to no
point a finite distance away from Earth in the widely accepted scientific cosmology.

A drill, Gardner says, would lengthen as it traveled away from the cavern and eventually
pass through the "point at infinity" corresponding to the center of the Earth in the widely
accepted scientific cosmology. Supposedly no experiment can distinguish between the
two cosmologies. Martin Gardner notes that "most mathematicians believe that an inside-
out universe, with properly adjusted physical laws, is empirically irrefutable." Gardner
rejects the concave hollow Earth hypothesis on the basis of Occam's Razor.

In a trivial sense, one can always define a coordinate transformation such that the interior
of the Earth becomes "exterior" and the exterior becomes "interior". Such transformations
would require corresponding changes to the forms of physical laws; the consensus
suggests that such theories tend towards sophism.40

Back to the Directory (Back to Page 67)

40 CREDIT http://www.crystalinks.com/hollowearth.html

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The Koreshan Unity as seen from the east side of US-41.

We are always happy to receive donations for the archives. We recently received an
envelope containing some pictures and clippings from the granddaughter of Edward
Albert Wilhelm Koester Two of the photos showed a view, (taken from the Printing
House, which was located on the southeast corner of the intersection of the Estero River
and what now US-41). The two photos look like they were taken one after the other, so
through the ‘miracle’ of modern technology we were able to create a panorama. Here is
the photo. click on it to get the full view and effect.

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Back to (Page 100)
Source
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A. The Shakers

One of the earliest utopian movements was the United Society of Believers in Christ's
Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers. Originating in England in the
18th century and moving to America shortly afterward, they are a Christian Protestant
religious sect whose name was derived from the movements of the members in dancing,
which formed a part of their worship. Ann Lee, a leader of the group in England,
emigrated to New York in the 1770s, having experienced a profound religious awakening
that convinced her that she was “mother in Christ.” She taught that God was both male
and female; Jesus embodied the male side, while Mother Ann (as she came to be known
by her followers) represented the female side. To Shakers in both England and the United
States, Mother Ann represented the completion of divine revelation and the beginning of
the millennium of heaven on earth.
In practice, men and women in Shaker communities were held as equals—a radical
departure at the time—and women often outnumbered men. Equality extended to the
possession of material goods as well; no one could hold private property. Shaker
communities aimed for self-sufficiency, raising food and making all that was necessary,
including furniture that emphasized excellent workmanship as a substitute for worldly
pleasure.

Members of Shaker communities held all of their possessions in common and lived in a
prosperous, inventive, self-supporting society. The defining features of the Shakers were

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their spiritual mysticism and their prohibition of sexual intercourse, which they held as an
example of a lesser spiritual life and a source of conflict between women and men.
Rapturous Shaker dances, for which the group gained notoriety, allowed for emotional
release. The high point of the Shaker movement came in the 1830s, when about six
thousand members populated communities in New England, New York, Ohio, Indiana,
and Kentucky. New members could only come from conversions and from children
brought to the Shaker villages. The Shakers persisted into the 20th century and are mostly
known today for their cultural contributions (especially their style of music and furniture)
and their model of equality of the sexes.

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B. Shaker Dancing
Music and dance were important parts of Shaker community worship.

C. The Harmony Society
The Harmony Society was a Christian theosophy and pietist group founded in Iptingen,
Germany, in 1785. Due to religious persecution by the Lutheran Church and the
government in Württemberg, the society moved to the United States and settled
in Pennsylvania in 1805, together with about 400 followers. They formally organized the
Harmony Society, placing all their goods in common. The Harmony Society made three
attempts to effect a millennial society, with the most notable example being at New
Harmony, Indiana. Later, Scottish industrialist Robert Owen bought New Harmony and
attempted to form a secular utopian community there. The group lasted until 1905,
making it one of the longest-running financially successful communes in American
history.

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D. The Oneida Community

The Oneida Community, founded by John Humphrey Noyes in Oneida, New York, was a
utopian religious commune that lasted from 1848 to 1881. Although this utopian
experiment is better known today for its manufacture of Oneida silverware, it was one of
the longest-running communes in American history. Also known as the Perfectionist
movement, the community believed that Jesus had already returned in 70 A.D., making it
possible for them to bring about Jesus' millennial kingdom themselves, to be free of sin,
and to be perfect in this world (a belief called Perfectionism).

Noyes applied his idea of perfection to relationships between men and women, earning
notoriety for his unorthodox views on marriage and sexuality. Beginning in his
hometown of Putney, Vermont, he began to advocate what he called “complex marriage:”
a form of communal marriage in which women and men who had achieved perfection
could engage in sexual intercourse without sin. Noyes also promoted “male continence,”
whereby men would not ejaculate, thereby freeing women from pregnancy and the
difficulty of determining paternity when they had many partners. Intercourse became
fused with spiritual power among Noyes and his followers.

The concept of complex marriage scandalized the townspeople in Putney, so Noyes and
his followers removed to Oneida, New York. Individuals who wanted to join the Oneida
Community underwent a tough screening process to weed out those who had not reached
a state of perfection, which Noyes believed promoted self-control, not out-of-control

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behavior. The goal was a balance between individuals in a community of love and
respect. The perfectionist community Noyes envisioned ultimately dissolved in 1881,
although the Oneida Community itself continues to this day.
Source: Boundless. “Utopian Communities.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 26
May. 2016. Retrieved 27 Jun. 2016 from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-
history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/religion-romanticism-and-cultural-
reform-1820-1860-14/the-age-of-cultural-reforms-112/utopian-communities-606-1734/

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