Home

Seeing the quiet seaside community of Home today, it is difficult to imagine it as the area's hotbed for radical anarchists and nudists, but that is nonetheless the area's history from 1895, when after the failure of the industrial cooperative colony Glennis, east of Eatonville, three former Glennisites — George H. Allen, Oliver A. Verity, and B. F. O'Dell — set out in the summer into Puget Sound on a rowboat they built themselves to find an isolated location for a new community.

They decided upon Von Geldern Cove (also known as Joe's Bay) as the site for their new Home Colony, which would be an intentional community based on anarchist philosophy. The founders purchased 26 acres (110,000 m²) there at $7 an acre, working odd jobs to pay for it. By 1896, their families had joined them and cabins were constructed.

By 1898 a land buying corporation was set up called the Mutual Home Association, whose Articles of Incorporation and Agreement stated their purpose as "to assist its members in obtaining and building homes for themselves and to aid in establishing better social and moral conditions." Land was apportioned to those who became members of the Association, agreeing to its anarchist ideals and to pay for their lot. The title to each member's land would stay with the Association; however this was changed in 1909. The Association also held title to a meeting hall, called Liberty Hall, and a trading post.

When Home was plotted in 1901 it had increased in size to 217 acres (0.88 km²) and had become home to anarchists, communists, food faddists, freethinkers, nudists, and others who did not fit in with mainstream society. Elbert Hubbard, anarchist Emma Goldman, and national communist leader William Z. Foster visited and gave lectures.

Following the assassination of President McKinley by an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz in 1901, the community came under scrutiny from outsiders, especially newspapers in nearby Tacoma. Inflammatory articles led to threats being made by a vigilante committee called the Loyal League formed by members of the Grand Army of the Republic, who planned to invade the colony by steamboat and "put it to the torch." They were stopped when the steamboat owner refused to take them.

In 1902, after charges of violation of the Comstock Act resulting from an article advocating free-love published in the local anarchist newspaper called "Discontent: Mother of Progress", Home's post office was closed by postal inspectors and moved two miles (3 km) to the smaller town of Lakebay.

The radical feminist Lois Waisbrooker was a resident of Home during a later phase of her controversial career (1901 to 1904), and was involved in the prosecution that led to the closing of the Home post office.

The Association became divided into disagreeing factions called "nudes" and "prudes." The two factions were coined in a series of editorials in the Home newspaper The Agitator in which editor Jay Fox defended Homeites arrested in 1911 for nude swimming — and nude swimming in general — against those in Home who had reported them to county authorities. Because of these editorials, Fox was charged with the misdemeanor of encouraging or advocating disrespect for law or for any court or courts of justice and jailed for two months.

In 1919 the Association was dissolved and the anarchist community, as it was, ended.

Once you're in town everything is accessible by foot, located on Von Glendem Cove this is an interesting area to explore by boat.

• 🌍 Eagle Island State Park, ☏ +1 360 902-8844. 10-acre marine park with 2,600 feet of saltwater shoreline. There are 2 mooring buoys on the west side and 1 on the east side of this remote island accessible only by boat between Anderson Island and McNeal Island, there are also trails and camping spots and the area is known for the many seals that come to sunbath. The park was named after Harry Eagle, a member of the Wilkes Expedition. 
• 🌍 Joemma Beach State Park. on the Key Peninsula near Gig Harbor, is a 122-acre marine camping park with 3,000 feet of saltwater frontage on southeast Kitsap Peninsula. Aside from the natural beauty of park and surroundings, the area is an excellent place for fishing, boating and crabbing. Provides a boat launch and water trail campsites, 5 buoys and 500' dock footage. 
• 🌍 Penrose Point State Park. this 152-acre marine and camping park is a small peninsula that sets on the shores of Mayo Cove and Carr Inlet and offers a wide variety of water activities a few miles south of Home. Impressive stands of fir and cedar share space with ferns, rhododendrons, wildlife and birds. The name honors Dr. Stephen Penrose, a Pennsylvania native who served as president of Whitman College in Walla Walla from 1884 to 1934. For many years, Dr. Penrose and his family spent their summers vacationing on what is now park property. A prominent church and educational leader in the Northwest, Dr. Penrose was a firm believer in outdoor recreation for children. A self-guided interpretive trail called "A Touch of Nature" was built by Eagle Scouts in 1982 and renovated by a second group of Eagle Scouts in 1991. The trail is located in the day-use area, and extends for 1/5 mile. 

• Kayak Rentals. Are available near the marina, look for a small hand painted sign pointing up a driveway. A small business but they actually have a decent selection of boats available to explore the area. 

• Home Port Restaurant & Lounge, 1509 Key Peninsula Hwy N, ☏ +1 253 884-3743. Off the beaten path hometown favorite. Family owned and attentive staff with old fashioned good cooking. 

• Trillium Creek Winery, 17812 G St, ☏ +1 253 884-5746. Tu-Su 11AM-6PM. Although they purchase their grapes in Eastern Washington, they are processed in their 1500 square foot wine cellar on their 15 acres in Lakebay and have a tasting room open to the public. 

Guest moorage is available at nearby Lakebay with additional moorage and camping available at Penrose Point State Park.

• Wisteria Hollow. 1930s Victorian Manor with three bedrooms, a loft, 2.5 baths, sleeps 6-12. One of three homes between Lakebay and Home on the same property that can be rented separately or as a group with access to 200 feet of private beach on Von Geldern Cove. 

• Lakebay - Home is just north of Lakebay and Penrose Point State Park.
• Fox Island is nearby as well as Eagle Island State Park and Anderson Island. Lakebay and Gig Harbor have the closest marinas offering fuel or just take some time to admire Penrose Point State Park.