Druid Heights, a little-known enclave where Zen philosopher Alan Watts, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gary Snyder and prostitutes union founder Margot St. James once lived with other counterculture characters in ''shared bohemian poverty," has long been one of Marin County's best-kept historical secrets.
Although most people have never heard of the place, this once flourishing alternative community, whose members were dedicated to radical artistic, philosophical, spiritual, political and sexual experimentation, is beginning to slowly emerge from its cocoon of obscurity.
An isolated cluster of architecturally eccentric dwellings near Muir Woods, Druid Heights is not only a fascinating chapter in Bay Area history, it may even be of national significance and therefore worthy of preservation.
A recent study by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area concludes that the five-acre property meets all the criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places and "would make an ideal artists' retreat."
"This small community succeeded in its goal to create a secluded, supportive space in which imaginative people could work, live and celebrate, unburdened by the demands of mainstream society," the study says. ''Their efforts later had a significant impact on the emerging counterculture in the San Francisco Bay Area, and would eventually influence broader events in the history of the United States."
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