In an upscale neighborhood inCentral New York, an imposing brick mansion sits at the top of a slight hill. The 93,000 square-foot house is open to the public for tours, and concerts and other special events are frequently held on the spacious grounds. The house, theOneida Community Mansion House, is also the site of a successful utopian socialist community, placing it at the top of the list of one of the most interesting things to do in Oneida, NY.
John Humphrey Noyes [1811-1886] carried his radical notions of perfectionism from Yale, where he was kicked out of seminary school, to Putney, Vermont, where he was arrested for adultery, to Oneida, where he successfully established a utopian community.
Through religion and willpower, Noyes believed people could free themselves of sin, and ultimately declared that he himself existed in a state of perfection. He implemented these beliefs in 1848, when he founded the Oneida Community. For 33 years under his leadership, the men and women in his social experiment went from making money off the land to becoming the most successfulflatware manufacturing company in North America.
Oneida Community History
While in New York City, the decadence of the idle rich helped coin the term the Gilded Age, and immigration was laying the foundation for America, Noyes and his followers were carving a very different history.
The Oneida Community, also known as the Perfectionists, followed Noyes directive of complex marriage, in which all women were married to all men and vice versa [this is the practice that previously got him arrested for adultery in Vermont]. Free love was strongly encouraged. Having sex which led to pregnancy was a community decision and the menin a refreshing challenge to patriarchywere responsible for birth control.
At its peak, the mansion was home to close to 300 men, women and children. No one owned anything individually; in other words, they all owned everything together. Men and women were considered equal in standing, although [in a disappointingly stale and tired viewpoint] it was recognized that women were more suited to domestic chores such as raising the children, cooking, and cleaning.
Favoring ones own children was frowned upon. According to Perfectionist doctrine, women were designed for much more than motherhood so the community as a whole was responsible for raising the children.
The community supported themselves with their production of animal traps and silk thread; in later years they began to manufacture flatware and eventually foundedOneida, Ltd., which became the largest seller of stainless steel flatware in North America.
Eventually, outside influences began to pressure the Perfectionists for their odd practices. Once again targeted by the law for his free love beliefs [statutory rape, this time], Noyes fled to Canada. The community dissolved and converted to a joint-stock company, and the utopian experiment was over.
Noyes died in Canada in 1886, but he was buried in the Oneida Community Cemetery alongside many of his followers.
Visiting Oneida Community Mansion House
The mansionwhich tops the list of my favorite things to do in Upstate New Yorkis located in Oneida, a small city located about 35 miles east ofSyracuse.
Matt and I took a self-guided tour. A museum volunteer gave us a printed guide, which explained the functions of the different rooms we toured, and also gave us interactive little tasks to engage in while we looked around.
The tour begins in the orientation room, which provides an overview of John Humphrey Noyes and explains the basic beliefs of the Perfectionists. It then heads upstairs to the family hall, where adults gathered each evening to socialize, read the Bible, and exchange news. We also had the opportunity to view a sitting room, a small bedroom, and a library, and various artifacts made by the community such as quilts, clothing, and an impressive collection of animal traps.
The Mansion House still operates as abed-and-breakfast, offering a select number of rooms for overnight stays, as well as a few mansion house apartments for rent, and credits itself with being continually inhabited since 1862.
We love visiting historic homestheres so much to learn. And the added detail that this one was the site of such an odd, unique experiment in living added a current of intrigue.
170 Kenwood Ave., Oneida
Ph: 315-363-0745
- ADMISSION
- Adults: $5
- Students [with ID]: $3
- Children under 12: Free
- Family group: [two parents + children]: $15
- HOURS
- Open for self-guided tours Monday Saturday 9-5; Sunday 12-5
- Check website for guided tour hours.