Originally published in 2021. Courtesy Susan Soderberg of The Germantown Historical Society. 

It was a sad day in September 1990 when the last of the artist residents said goodbye to their commune home on Frederick Road in Germantown. They left behind their gardens, their lap swimming pool, their treehouse with the triple-chair zipline, their annual masquerade balls; and they took with them their art, their music and their joie de vivre. But the house, the magnificent 125 year-old house with its wrap-around porch and huge fireplace, was not to be torn down– it would be reborn in another location.