The Lands’ home in the mid-1970s.
The Lands bought 20 acres in the area and created an egalitarian community, called Chrysalis, which, at its height, had nine people living in it.
Land said the family loved their time in Needmore, living off the land, raising goats, riding horses, listening to music, and spending time with friends. Rhonda Roehm Rhonda Roehm, a Fort Wayne native who had come to the area to study at Indiana University, said she and her boyfriend used to visit the Canadas’ house on Lanham Ridge Road on the weekends in the fall of 1967 when the couple was making plans for the community.
“ Everything any of us did at that time was for raising consciousness and awareness. That was the main thrust of everything that happened there,” she said.
Even taking drugs served to raise one’ s consciousness, Roehm said.
Roehm traveled to other countries at the time and visited Spain in spring 1968.
“ It was like this craving … to travel and get to know other cultures. Because once you do that, you don’ t want to bomb them … and they don’ t want to bomb you,” she said. courtesy Bill Land
She moved into Needmore when she returned from Europe. Some people lived in houses, and others in tents and a yurt. Roehm said she and a boyfriend built a teepee, which was“ fabulous” in part because it had all kinds of methods of dealing with weather.
“ The teepee itself was the most beautiful place I had ever lived,” she said.
Roehm worked for the Canadas’ real estate office for a while, but people often simply“ did what the day brought.”
That meant finding food, cooking, baking, picking strawberries, trading those with someone who churned butter, or hitchhiking to the university to take a shower.
“ It all fell together, and people helped each other,” she said.“ Everybody helped with food. If you didn’ t have food, you could always get a meal.”
Roehm also briefly lived with the Loftmans and said they taught her all about morel hunting.
“ People think it was sex and drugs and rock n roll,” she said.“ They think that that’ s all it was, and that wasn’ t what it was … this was sacred. We hung out with our friends. That’ s what we did a lot of the day.”
Roehm said she most valued the attitude of accepting everyone. It was about seeing“ the beauty in someone else’ s soul and allowing them to be the way they want as long as they’ re not hurting other people.” Why they left Loftman left after Canada returned from the 1971 May Day protest against the Vietnam War and brought back two groups of people: Poor urban hippies from Washington, D. C., many of them African American, and Vietnam veterans against the war.
The Loftmans’ house was right by a road, and before long, they would see vehicles drive by very slowly, with men glowering at them, carrying rifles and shotguns. Then came arsons, burned teepees, and a cross burning.
One night, a mixed-race couple snuck across a road, through the woods and to the Loftmans’ house, asking for refuge, which they gave.“ We kept vigil all night,” Loftman said. He said he suspects things had gone farther than anybody expected. The community held a meeting to figure out how to respond, and some people wanted to arm themselves.
Continued on 58 Nov./ Dec. 2024 • Our Brown County 57