A Home with a Heart: Reflections from Beth and Phil

At Cobb Hill, our homes are more than just buildings—they’re woven into the story of the land, the people, and the values we share. This month, we want to highlight a very special home now for sale—not by listing specs and square footage, but by sharing the heart behind it.

Beth and Phil, two of Cobb Hill’s founding members, have lived in this home since the very beginning. They helped design not only the house itself, but also the gardens, systems, and spirit of the community around it. They raised their two daughters here, who are now full grown and living their own vibrant lives. Their family's presence is felt in the stones of the path, the soil of the garden, and the culture of care and cooperation that defines life here.

We asked them to reflect on what this home has meant to them, and what they hope it might become for someone new.

Interview with Beth and Phil 

1. What originally drew you to help create Cobb Hill, and what were your hopes for the kind of community it would become?

So much of what drew us to the vision of Cobb Hill (long before it was called Cobb Hill or even before we knew it would be on this piece of land) is here today. The idea of community, of having others to share work and fun and learning with. The idea of sustainability of making it easier to live within the Earth’s limits. Whether it’s the PV panels on the barn or the way our passive solar super-insulated home is so cozy on a freezing winter day, it has been a delight to experience that vision of more sustainable living as part of our daily life here. Another thread that has been so important to us from the start is the commitment to making decisions by consensus. While it hasn’t always been easy, it’s been an honor and an inspiration to be part of a group that is trying to operate in a way that includes deep listening, mutual respect and a shared search for wisdom.

And in fact, because these initial values that were so important to us in the early days are alive and well today, although we are selling our house, we intend to remain a part of Cobb Hill, moving to a different home that is still a part of the whole ongoing experiment!

2. What did this home mean to you during the design and building process—and what intentions or hopes did you pour into it at that time?

Looking back, we never really thought of the design decisions for the home separate from the design of all of Cobb Hill. That was partly practical since we were figuring everything out at once - the site map, the common house design, the governance structure. But also the homes were never meant to stand alone - there are so many shared systems, and we have the common house as an extension of our own homes. We did make a few choices that stood for our own values as a couple within the wider set of values of the community. We chose a duplex for more neighborly connection and because it was more efficient with materials. We chose the smaller footprint option to try to minimize costs and our environmental impact. And we chose the location on the site because it had an inviting spot for gardening - a garden that helped feed our family for many years and is now full of perennials, berry bushes, and more.

3. What have been some of your most meaningful experiences living here—moments that felt like “this is why we built this”?

That’s a long list. Some big accomplishments like finding a way to add solar panels to the barn roof or watching the level of invasive species reduce a little bit because of our work. But also little moments - snowshoeing in the moonlight, watching our kids pile into the car with our neighbor Marie who wanted to share her love of opera. Enjoying how our daughters almost had an honorary brother in the son of our duplex mates, watching our kids develop a love of food and farming that has shaped their lives as adults.

4. What makes your home—and its place in the community—special to you?

Each Cobb Hill home is special. Each has a little bit of a different angle on the sunrise, a little more or a little less elevation. Some things we’ve enjoyed about this house are how close it is to the common house and barnyard making it easy to feel a part of things, and how many gorgeous sunrises and rainbows we’ve seen from our deck on the east of the house. We’ve also had such enjoyment improving the soil in the gardens around the house and establishing herbs, flowers, berries and fruit trees so that there’s beauty to enjoy and often tasty things to harvest.

5. What kind of person or family do you imagine thriving in this home and community next?

The possibilities are endless. This was a great home for us to raise a family in, a family inclined to many projects - homeschooling, big groups of wandering kids, food preserving, crafts and hobbies and lots of cooking. The house, while one of the smaller units at Cobb Hill seemed to hold it all well. But who knows, maybe the next person to own the house will be a single cello-playing knitter or a grandpa with two cats who translates Japanese poetry. The lucky thing is, since we are sticking around, we will get to find out!