by JACQUELINE SCOTT
Intern Lifestyles Reporter

Peace, love and Hippie Hill.

Hippie Hill refers to a residential section of grassy land overlooking King St. between College St. and Appalachian St.

“It is a natural, geographic piece of property tying the residents of the stone houses and nearby apartment buildings together,” Marie W. Freeman said. “It is like a deregulated Sanford Mall. On beautiful days, there are almost always people hanging out, playing music and hacky sack.”

Freeman, a creative services Technology Support Technician, lived in the stone house, or “rock house,” while attending summer school in the mid-80s.

Hippie Hill always had ‘Grateful Deadheads’ listening to bootleg tapes on the stereo and attending lawn keg parties, she said.

While the music of the times has changed, the atmosphere of Hippie Hill has not.

Sean M. Piazza, senior public relations major, has lived at his apartment on Hippie Hill for three years and describes the Hill as ‘a community.’

“[The] Hill is the community that sprang up after having shared lawns and common areas,” he said. “It’s just that sort of culture that’s consistently developed both living and hanging out on the Hill.”

After living on the Hill for two and a half years, senior anthropology major Erika C. Johnston said it’s the culture that causes people to gravitate to Hippie Hill.

“They tend to gravitate to [the Hill] because their friends live there or they know someone with ‘something’ to sell,” she said. “There are still many people, though, who do not participate in the ‘hippieness’ of the Hill.”

The name Hippie Hill may also refer to some of the tie-dye wearing, pot-smoking, free-spirited residents.

“In [the 80’s], not everyone living on Hippie Hill smoked weed. There were some drugs used, but it wasn’t widespread,” Freeman said. “Mostly what attracted folks up the Hill was the accepting nature of the people living there. There was a constant flow of human traffic offering the opportunity to come in contact with those whose lives and ideas may be different, without fear of rejection.”

Freeman revisited her old residence to reminisce.

“I returned [to the Hill] a couple of years ago and shared my memories with some of the kids who lived there,” Freeman said. “One thing we could agree upon were the rats living in the area. I remember opening a kitchen cabinet only to surprise a rat, not a mouse, a big toothy rat, eating a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese.”

The spirit of Hippie Hill has triumphed music genres and still remains the laid-back environment Freeman experienced in the 80s.

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