The Pagoda was a lesbian residential community and cultural center on the beach near St. Augustine, Florida, from 1977 to 1999. Rose Norman interviewed founders, residents, and guests for the story of how it came to be and how it lasted so long.

At one point, I thought I’d realized my dream of meeting every lesbian in Virginia.

In mid-career, Mary Alice Stout left a successful professional job in Tennessee to follow her heart to rural South Carolina and off-the-grid Alabama.

Martine Giguère looking cool in 1985, at the New England Women’s Musical Retreat. Photo by Beth Karbe

Martine’s Pagoda memories: the ocean, carpentry, and collaboration with lesbians there, which “got me on my feet and gave a direction to my life.”Â