Tawapa

Tawapa was a diffuse hippie commune north of Placitas, New Mexico. It was founded in 1970, and dissolved in the 1990s. It was located along Las Huertas Creek near the Sandia Mountains. There was also a spring in Tawapa, and watercress grew by the spring.

Lower Farm
At the commune of Lower Farm in New Mexico, there was a man who went by Ulysses (real name Donald Waskey). He called himself Ulysses because he claimed to be the reincarnation of Ulysses S. Grant. He also believed himself to be the reincarnation of Vulcan and Jesus Christ. He murdered two people,  and once ran for governor of New Mexico. He was the self-proclaimed leader of the commune.

Tawapa
In 1970, due to the problems at Lower Farm, several couples left Lower Farm, and founded Tawapa along Las Huertas Creek. Many people, especially youth, settled in Tawapa in the 1970s. They heard about it by word of mouth and through magazines. They constructed houses there. A person in California once made a map of hippie communes, drawing in even more people to Tawapa. They camped there. During this time, several other communes were founded in the area, such as Sun Farm and Dome Valley. The people living in Tawapa claimed adverse possession over the land. However, they were ultimately evicted due to other people holding legal rights to Tawapa. Also, housing developments in the 1990s made people have to leave Tawapa.

Post-disestablishment
In recent years, there has been a lot of environmental damage due to an increased number of houses being built, as well as groundwater mining. The spring has mostly run dry, and Sun Farm is experiencing a water shortage.