| Bryn Gweled | |
| Settlement Type: | Intentional Community |
| Pushpin Map: | Pennsylvania#USA |
| Pushpin Label: | Bryn Gweled |
| Coordinates: | 40.1659°N -75.0146°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Pennsylvania |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Bucks |
| Subdivision Type3: | Township |
| Subdivision Name3: | Upper Southampton Township |
| Established Title: | Founded |
Bryn Gweled is a small community in Upper Southampton Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Described as an "intentionally cooperative community",[1] Bryn Gweled Homesteads consists of 78 privately owned homes on 240acres of collectively owned and managed land as well as a community center.[2] [3]
The self-governing community was founded in 1940 by thirteen mostly Quaker families from the Philadelphia area.[1] The name of the community means "Hill of Vision" in Welsh.[4] The community maintains its founders' vision of collective responsibility, modified consensus-style management, and racial diversity,[2] and has been cited as an example of community-based decision-making in action.[5]
Some of the house architecture was created by various students of the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright such as Robert Forsythe Bishop and others who went on to have distinguished further careers. The homes are located on two acre plots, nestled into fields and forests, an oasis from the surrounding Philadelphia suburban sprawl. Several of the homes feature unique architectural elements such as heated floors, exposed wooden beams, wide open interior spaces, central fireplaces typical of organic architecture and Usonian homes.
Margaret H. Lippert, an award-winning author of books and anthologies
Mario Capecchi, Nobel Prize-winning molecular geneticist[6]
James H. Rowe, a dog walker who found a down man in the road, effectively summoning help to save life of commune president.