Our Story

Our Mission

HOWL is a non-profit land trust held in perpetuity for the full diversity of women, regardless of gender assigned at birth, and transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive individuals. We are an intentional community working to create an alternative to systemic oppression and patriarchy. We work collectively to preserve and steward the land, to provide space for community building, service, and skill-sharing, and to collaborate in projects and programming that reflect our shared values of intersectional feminism, compassion, respect, sustainability, and love of the earth.

The Place

HOWL is a historic women's land located in Huntington, Vermont on unceded Abenaki territory.

The land consists of 54 beautiful, rugged acres abutting Camel’s Hump State Park, including excellent farmland (for livestock, small gardens, and orchard projects), a 4-bedroom house, a barn, streams, a pond, several campsites, and multi-use trails. The backyard includes herb gardens and a memorial garden for our foremothers. And we are lucky to be next-door neighbors with Kunsi Keya Tamakoce.

Our Evolution

In 1986, a group of women in the Burlington area came together in the hopes of providing a safe, inclusive space for women to connect with nature, each other, and themselves. They banded together as Commonwomon and later incorporated as a nonprofit, Huntington Open Women’s Land (HOWL). In 1988, they purchased land with the support of generous donors. Over the years, HOWL has been shaped by different generations as a unique space for feminist and lesbian communities. Unlike many historic women’s lands, HOWL strove for inclusivity from the start for women regardless of sexual orientation, rather than being a lesbian separatist space. The founders also hoped to ensure accessibility for women with disabilities, working-class and poor women, and women of color. Circa 2010, HOWL developed a policy of inclusion for “all women, regardless of gender at birth.” This was a long and sometimes contentious process. Some individuals pushed back, but eventually the trans-inclusive policy prevailed. Over the next decade, other participants continued a learning conversation. In 2021, HOWL formally updated its mission to include women, trans people of all genders, and nonbinary and gender-expansive people.

HOWL has transformed over the years, now embracing a vision re-committed and re-centered on environmental stewardship, people of color, poor and working-class people, and trans and nonbinary individuals in addition to cis women. In 2023, young HOWL volunteers convened an eclectic mix of farmers, neighbors, organizers, artists, conservation experts, and more to envision HOWL’s future. Coming out of this retreat, volunteers formed the Futures Committee — a multiracial, gender-diverse, and intergenerational group — to guide new programming, fundraising, and partnerships. Some Futures Committee members have since joined the Collective, which serves as HOWL’s board. As HOWL strengthens its foundations, we’re committed to staying connected with the communities we serve through regular listening and feedback sessions.

HOWL Archives

HOWL’s sound files & archives tell a grand story of collaboration, missteps and missed perspectives, generosity, frustration, wild times, fun times, endless fundraising, legal maze navigation, feminist process, land-scouting, and more. Do you have a story you’d like to add? We’d love to include you! Want to get deep into the weeds checking out HOWL’s archives? We can send you links to additional documents. Have video or audio editing skills, or writing and research skills you’d like to put to use? We’d love to hear from you. Send your stories, questions, and suggestions here.

Our old Blogspot is archived here, and we have archived our previous Wordpress site as well. A peek into the inspiring commitment of our founders to bring HOWL into being: