Arlington Friends House

Arlington Friends House is a Quaker-oriented cooperative in Arlington, outside Boston. We typically include five to seven members with a common interest in simple living. Most residents have been single adults, but we've also had small family groups. We share a large Victorian house: six bedrooms and five common rooms, including the kitchen, diningroom, livingroom, music room and library. The extended porch leads down into a large yard.

Although many of us have been practicing Friends, we also welcome non-Quakers. Our community has included members from diverse backgrounds that range from Buddhism to Catholicism, and from areas as far away as the Philippines and as close as Cambridge. Many residents have had ties with area divinity schools.

Members enjoy eating together most evenings; each of us cooks dinner for the house once a week. We also share rotating house tasks, including shopping and cleaning. Because we're a small household we make most day-to-day decisions as a group; we hold house meetings over dinner twice a month.

Arlington Friends House works not only because of a shared commitment to simple living, but because we actively seek community. We enjoy each other's company, not only cooking and eating together, but joining in planned and spontaneous events—walks, games, bike rides, singing parties, picnics, films...

We're fortunate to have a beautiful Victorian home in an historic neighborhood. The house is within easy walking distance of the local library, Town Hall, post office, grocery store, and shops in Arlington Center. Although we enjoy a beautiful wooded park up the street, we're only blocks from Mass. Ave. and public transit. Local bus lines connect us to Cambridge and the MBTA. The Minuteman Bikeway provides a tree-lined east to Alewife station or west to Lexington.

Our specific Quaker practices have much in common with other spiritual traditions. We share silent grace before our common meals, and strive for simple living (carpooling, recycling, CSA share, etc.). Our house meetings follow the model of the Friends Meeting for Business.