Five acres are commonly owned, and the twelve privately owned houses and their small gardens occupy the remaining three acres. On the lower section of the property, which is on the waterfront, are commonly owned organic gardens, playground equipment, wood and machine shops, a boathouse and slip, and storage facilities. On an elevated section, a few minutes walk up the hill from the water, the first building you come to is the common house, which has a small seating area, a full kitchen, and tables and chairs for common meals. The private homes create a circle, emanating from the common house. Each house has a relatively small living room that opens into an eating area and kitchen, two or three bedrooms, and one or two bathrooms.
Environmental principles dictate that smaller is better.
And the common facilities make large private homes unnecessary. You don't need a garage, for example, if your car is parked in the common lot, and the lawnmower is community owned and stored. But the houses were not cheap by Ulster County standards. Peter Murphy is referring to the fact that many other US cohousing communities are more expensive than Cantine's Island, due to higher land and building costs and, often, larger private homes. The residents park in a common parking lot across the road from their houses.