Arcadia Cohousing

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Home-sharing
  • Suburban

Founding year

  • 1991

What we do

Arcadia is a pedestrian-oriented residential cohousing community on 16 acres of wooded land. Thirty-three individually owned homes are clustered on five acres around a centrally located common house. The remaining land held in common includes woods, pond, stream, organic gardens, outdoor play spaces, and the common house with kitchen, dining area, guest rooms, playroom, office, laundry room, and storage areas. The majority of homes have a passive solar design and the common areas are handicapped accessible. We are located near rural areas about three miles from the towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill.

Our Mission

As members of the Arcadia Cohousing Community, we value:
RESPECT
• mutual kindness and generosity
• the physical and emotional safety of all Arcadians
INTERACTION
• knowing, supporting, and sharing with our neighbors
• spontaneous one-on-one interactions as the backbone of community
• authentic relationships along with their inevitable conflicts
• resolving conflicts in honest, creative, and non-threatening ways
FUN
• embracing and enjoying diversity in our multi-generational membership
• the social, emotional, intellectual, and physical benefits of having fun together
As participants in this intentional community, we value:
HONESTY
• through transparency in governance
• through openly communicating ideas and feelings relating to community issues
PARTICIPATION
• in our consensus decision-making process
• in shared meals: cooking, breaking bread together, and cleaning up
RESPONSIBILITY
• for our community’s financial well-being
• for our household’s monetary and non-monetary contributions to Arcadia Cohousing
• for our individual share of ongoing community work tasks and meetings
As stewards of our shared physical space, we value:
CREATIVITY of individual Arcadians in the use and development of our common assets
MINDFULNESS of the impact our personal spaces and habits have on our neighbors
WORKING TOGETHER to maintain and enhance the physical beauty and infrastructure of our community
SUSTAINABILITY in environmental and economic spheres by being caretakers of the natural environment
ENCOURAGING individual, small group, and community endeavors to promote our shared values
SHARING our public spaces, activities, and companionship with neighbors beyond our borders
We value making Arcadia a great place to come home to.

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Community type
  • Cohousing
  • Sustainability practices
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Activities
  • Property management

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1991
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 1995
  • Started living together
  • 55 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
72

How to join

Subject to availability of housing

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Come visit and walk the property or contact a member of the community to join us for a tour or common meal.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

Decision-making process

  • Full Consensus

Everyone must agree before moving forward.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Conflict resolution approach

Executive Committee of HOA

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Regular fees: Yes
Labor: Yes
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
Any debt remains responsibility of individual homeowner. Monthly HOA dues and 3+ hrs per month of sweat equity, based on number of adults in household.

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Vehicle Share, Library, Outbuilding(s), Large Scale Kitchen, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • 1-3 times per month

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Community activities and engagement

  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure
  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies

Age demographics

  • Family-focused (many children and parents)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a Land Trust, Home Owners Association, or corporation

Setting

  • Suburban

Residential areas outside city centers but within metropolitan regions.

Community type

  • Cohousing

    Private homes with shared common facilities, designed for neighborly
    interaction while maintaining independence.

Community type

  • Built or remodeled using passive solar design

Sustainability approach

  • Renewable energy systems

Community type

  • Built or remodeled using passive solar design

Some or all of the buildings are...

  • Built or remodeled using passive solar design

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Land area size
    16.5 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • North Carolina, United States

Arcadia Cohousing

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

  • Promoted
  • Events
3 weeks ago

Healing Love Healing Money: Trust As The Foundation For A New Culture

Money, love and power are among the hardest things any community works with, and many of us carry the same fears into both: not having enough, losing what we have, and the sense that if someone else gets money or love, we won’t. Healing Love, Healing Money: Trust as the Foundation for a New Culture is taught by two intentional communities. Karen McAllister and Duncan Cryle are from Clear Sky Meditation and Retreat Center, a Buddhist-lineage community in the BC Rockies. Monika Alleweldt and Benjamin von Mendelssohn from Tamera Healing Biotope, a community of about 160 people in southern Portugal that has spent decades studying love, trust and relationship. Clear Sky has spent years working on its relationship with money, and our two communities found surprising parallels in the fears beneath both. Over four sessions we explore the roots of fear around money and belonging, love, possession and power, trust as infrastructure (community as a container for healing), and ethical livelihood. We use short meditations, body-based practices, reflection and small-group conversation. You do not need to be in a romantic relationship or live in community. When: October 27, Nov 3, 10, 17. All four sessions: 12–2pm Vancouver, 1–3pm Alberta, 7–9pm UK and Portugal, 8–10pm Central Europe. Note: US and some Canadian provinces change clocks on November 1, so the US west coast is 12–2pm on October 27, then 11am–1pm for the remaining sessions, and Eastern is 3–5pm on October 27, then 2–4pm for the rest. Cost: sliding scale Details and registration: https://www.clearskycenter.org/event/healing-love-healing-money-online/  
October 27, 2026 13:00 – November 17, 2026 15:00
  • Promoted
Offer
  • Promoted
Need
Need
  • Communities with Openings
4 weeks ago

Heart-centered, nature-loving unschooling family seeking a community to land with for winter 2027

We’re a German-American family who left conventional life about four years ago to live in line with our values: freedom, connection, nature, and spirituality. We started out as worldschoolers, moving every month or two. That taught us a lot, including that too much movement leaves a family rootless. Since then we’ve been looking for the balance between adventure and belonging. We found a taste of it on a multigenerational farm community in Austria, and we’re now living alongside a small community in Norway. For January to March 2027, we’d love to spend a season inside a community that feels like home. What we’re hoping for A community with teenagers and a culture that welcomes self-directed learning, where unschooling is understood and not just tolerated Nature at your doorstep (forest, land, animals, or garden) Some shared meals, perhaps shared rhythms, and real relationships, not just a place to park A spiritual or reflective thread, whatever form it takes for you An opportunity to get to know your community by giving back (although we can’t do a ‘full’ volunteering program as we have the past three years – ie: Workaway- because we have meetings online that take up too much of our time to volunteer full time)  What we bring Resilience and emotional wellbeing. I’m an online resilience coach with a BA in Developmental Psychology, certified in HeartMath®, and an experienced yoga and meditation teacher. I can offer community sessions in nervous system regulation, stress resilience, and meditation, and support for parents and teens. Experience raising three children in a nomadic, family-centered lifestyle, including years of travel across Europe. Open, adaptable, and grounded. We’ve lived in many settings and adapt quickly. We show up as contributors, not consumers. Unschooling and homeschooling know-how. We’re glad to share what we’ve learned, especially for families navigating legal and practical questions in Europe. Many other shareable skills: carpentry, sourdough bread baking, food fermenting, music making, dad-joke-telling, drone pilots, cookie bakers, food preservation and much much more.   We’re looking for a mutual fit, not just a bed for the winter. If our story resonates and you have space or know someone who does, we’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your community: your values, your daily rhythm, and what you’re hoping for from the people who join you.
Need
  • Forming Communities
2 weeks ago

Forest Community Starting

Description: Willits, CA, Pacific Northwest rainforest system. Forest Haven is seeking forest lovers who value solitude. We have several areas in the main compound and a few tucked away in private. Space is designed for your RV / Tiny Home / +++. We will add power and water for each new Steward’s space. Land: 40 acres(17 hectares), 3ac for humans. Year-round creek at base of parcel. Heavy trees, 40 meter-ish high. Conifer mix. With a large south-facing common garden.   New forest stewards have agreed to prioritize tree health. This means each person here will have a say in whether we cut any single tree. We never cut for wood or sale.  Stewards agree to walk the forest daily as our one required 20-minute group activity.    Limit the number of dwellings to 3-5 Total. There are 8 common buildings, with 3 having flush toilets and one with a hot shower, washer and dryer. We are 100% off-grid.  We have a natural spring and solar. The full-size common kitchen is large enough to process the garden harvest and more. Remote workers and retirees’ welcome. Full online and cell service available.    Forest Haven is currently a private forest reserve.   If 2 households sign on, it will become a 501(c)(3). Each person’s “donation/rent” will be tax-deductible. This is a private forest reserve going public as a nonprofit.    Please inquire if you want to help in a small way using basic permaculture methods to improve our forest’s health, message me to learn more.

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