An experimental community intended to address the ills of income disparity during the Gilded Age, Fairhope, Alabama was founded by mid-westerners in 1894 on the shores of Mobile Bay. It attracted artists, eccentrics, and reformers including Marietta Johnson, who along with Maria Montessori, was a pioneer of non-traditional education. The community's founding organization and the school are both still there. But as the town has evolved into a nationally known resort and retirement community, it has struggled to reconcile its present with its past.