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Natural Living Advocate RAIDED for Housing Violations

 

 

Eustace Conway has lived over 20 years his life in the woods to be close to nature and to live a self sufficient lifestyle.  He now runs a  non-profit education center called Turtle Island Preserve in North Carolina focused on teaching people original ways of living.  They plant and harvest their own food, obtain milk from their goats, make their own butter, soap, and various tools, and build their own housing structures.  Guests learn how to live primitively as our ancestors and forefathers did.

What could be wrong with that?

Well, county officials decided to conduct a raid on the center after watching a clip from  a documentary called "Mountain Men" on the History Channel and forced them to close their doors to visitorsl.   Apparently they thought they were doing something dangerous and had to save these people from themselves.  And ultimately what did they find for violations?  They were cited for having buildings that don't fit the standard code for modern buildings.  However, a licensed engineer assessed the structural concerns of the county officials and in turn stated that these buildings were built "Better than code".  It certainly is contrary to the purpose of education to force modern buildings on a site showing how our ancestors lived and preserving our American cultural heritage.  

Turtle Island Building

The report stated that his buildings were not structurally sound because they lacked foundations as described in the building code.  However Eustace points out that the rocks he used for a foundation are more structurally sound and are not prone to cracking or other modern concrete failures. "I have been designing and building buildings for 48 years," he said. "Rocks under buildings -- that's all anybody's put under a building for the last 200 years."

Most of the notices from the county had to do with the outhouses.  Apparently you are allowed to have outhouses but you need a permit to do so.  I guess what they are saying is that such a basic human structure helping us serve a basic human needs requires government approval. 

It really makes you wonder.....How would our founding fathers be treated by today's regulators and bureaucrats? 

Check out Eustace Conway's website at:  http://www.turtleislandpreserve.org/home

Eustace Conway Hauling Logs

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