Community Consensus

By consensus, Friday evenings on Cantine’s Island are a jolly affair. Each week, from 5 to 6 pm, residents of the cohousing community gather for happy hour—one of many regular get-togethers designed to strengthen the bonds of this flourishing intentional community which is one part lifestyle, one part old-fashioned neighborhood. Sharing almost 10 quiet acres enveloped by a meander of the Esopus Creek, the community’s 19 privately owned homes, as well as commonly owned outbuildings and green spaces, were designed to strike a balance between privacy and interconnection.

Attending the weekly gathering isn’t mandatory, but it is enticing. On a recent mild spring evening, the variety of the community’s residents, and the deep bonds they’ve formed over years of building their thriving cooperative neighborhood, are on full display. “OG” retirees, some of them residents since the association first broke ground on the site in 1997, gather around a table on the property’s common patio. Children take advantage of the warm spring weather, setting up a ping-pong table or playing on the central green space ringed by 12 of the original single-family homes. Other children dart into the community’s six acres of preserved woodlands. A few parents play with the children, while others take a break to socialize with their neighbors.