Sue Chollet of Peterborough can remember being all alone in the Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm in West Peterborough.

“It was a little odd the first year or so,” she said with a laugh. “It was just me and the builders.”

Chollet, who moved into her  home in 2007, was the very first resident to commit to the cohousing community, and her house was the first one completed. Today, the neighborhood has 29 households, including more than 60 people who range in age from over 90 to toddlers.  

Nubanusit homes range in size from two- and three-bedroom duplexes to four-bedroom, two-bathroom homes. Chollet’s home looks over a community vegetable garden, and is a just few minutes walk from the pond and community gathering areas. 

Chollet, who had lived in Peterborough since 1969, never thought she would leave the home where she and her husband raised their family. But after hearing about Nubanusit Neighborhood from a friend in 2006, Chollet was intrigued.

“I was 64, my husband had died, my children were adults and not nearby. I always had horses, and I thought, ‘What happens if I get hurt? Who would know?’” Chollet said.

Friends introduced Chollet to Shelley Goguen Hulbert, the founder of Nubanusit Neighborhood, and she learned more about her vision for the community.

“We would all be responsible for taking care of the land, and for taking care of each other,” Chollet said. 

Because the state does not recognize cohousing – in which private homes are built around shared community space – the community follows the same rules as a condo development, with a board of directors and an HOA.

“Everyone serves on the board,” Chollet said. “Everyone serves on committees, based on what they want to get done. We all take turns, and we make decisions by consensus, and it was a learning curve for all of us.”

Chollet’s home has three bedrooms upstairs and a fourth downstairs bedroom which she uses as an office, and she also added a porch to her unit. The home has four floors, with a full basement and walk-up attic. The 24 homes  at Nubanusit are arranged around common green space, which, after 17 years, is overflowing with mature gardens.

Paths wind from each home toward the Common House, which contains community gathering spaces, the mailroom, an activity room that includes a children’s play space and two guest rooms which are available to residents.

The homes, designed by O’Neill Pennoyer Architects, are energy-efficient, and one home is certified LEED platinum. All the homes are heated by a central pellet boiler plant, which uses locally produced biomass fuel. The roofs are all designed for solar panels, which many residents have added. 

On a walking tour of  Nubanusit Neighborhood, Chollet displays the refrigerators with local meat, produce, dairy and other products.

“The farm is one of the most-wonderful things about living here. We grow our own food, we have our CSA, and you can just go in the store and pick up what you need,” Chollet said.

Chollet said the best thing about Nubanusit is the community.

“Some people participate in all the community events, others don’t. But we all know there are people around and willing to help if anyone needs help. One day I looked out and there was a young mother running around frantically knocking on doors; she had a medical emergency and needed someone to stay with two of her children while she brought another child to the hospital. So, of course, I said I would help, and I went and stayed with her children until she could get home,” Chollet said.

Chollet appreciates having teenagers and college students next door who can help walk her dogs or house-sit when needed.

“It’s more like it used to be, in the old days, when people knew their neighbors and relied on their neighbors. We all look out for one another,” Chollet said.

Before COVID, Nubanusit residents gathered for twice-weekly community suppers in the common house, with “teams” (as opposed to “committees”) cooking one meal, and the other meal potluck. Chollet says the tradition is slowly returning, and that community Halloween and holiday parties are always wildly popular.

“I love that there are people of all ages here,” Chollet says. “I can always hear children playing. It is safe, and they all just run around in a pack. Sometimes I will see children having a disagreement about something, and I may step in and encourage them to work it out.”

Elsbeth Pendleton-Wheeler, a professional farmer who with her partner Jasen Woodworth manages Nubanusit Farm, was part of  the first generation of children to grow up at Nubanusit Neighborhood.

“I was 12 when we moved here, and I was the oldest of all the kids, and it was great. There was a huge group of kids and we had a ton of freedom. We would help at the farm and just run all over the place,” Pendleton-Wheeler said.

Nubanusit Farm operates as a separate business from the neighborhood and offers a public CSA, which has around 100 members. The farm shop is open to the public. 

Other original residents include Elsbeth’s parents, Sage and Richard Pendleton-Wheeler, who were instrumental in the early development of the neighborhood; and Carol Krauss, who moved in shortly after Chollet.

“There are several of us who have been here since the beginning,” Chollet said. “It is definitely not for everyone, but for the people who choose to be a part of a community like this, they learn how to share governance. Sometimes it is a surprise to people that they need to ask the community before they do something, that they have to consider 60 other people. Everyone is equal here, and people learn to stand up and advocate when they want something or something is important to them.”

One unusual feature of the neighborhood a near-total lack of cars. The houses don’t have driveways or garages, and vehicles can only directly access the houses in case of emergency. Nubanusit residents park below the neighborhood in covered parking near the barn, using carts to tote groceries and supplies.

“People get used to it. It’s worth it, to have no one driving through, for safety, for beauty,” Chollet said. 

For information about Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm, go to nhcohousing.com.