Page 11 - C.A.L.L. #40 - Winter 2015

Residents are as new as last autumn, such as Brian and Kristen McBride and
their three children, or as original as Bob Dockhorn, who arrived here as an 8-
week-old in 1941, moved away as an adult, and then returned.

"We thought the whole world was like this," Dockhorn said about growing up in
Bryn Gweled. "Everyone called everyone else by their first names - even children
and adults." They still do.

Hans Peters arrived with his parents in the 1950s at age 3, and, like Dockhorn,
moved when he grew up and returned.

"There were more children around - we were a homogeneous group age-wise, but
there is much more age diversity today," said Peters, whose father built many
of the homes.

Bill Dockhorn has lived in the house his parents built when they and 11 other
Philadelphia families pooled $18,000 to buy foreclosed farms for $75 an acre in
"the country."

The founders welcomed everyone, while "all around them, people were being
excluded because they were African American or Jewish," said resident Jenifer
Davis.

Bryn Gweled Homesteads Community Center

"One reason for our success is that we don't demand anything from anyone,"
said Ed Kramer, who is Bryn Gweled's new president.

"We only ask for a few hours on the first Saturday of the month, two or three
hours working, a two-hour meeting, and a potluck supper," said Kramer, an artist
who grew up in Mount Airy and has lived in Bryn Gweled with his wife, Beth,
more than 30 years.

"Our chief underlying value is tolerance," he said.

"It is a friendly mix of community and individuality," said Peters. "You have
considerable privacy, but you can do your own thing."

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