History of Monteverde

In 1948 four American Quakers from Alabama refused to register for the draft to fight a war in the Korean Peninsula, deciding not to support the war effort on religious grounds. Upon their release from jail a dozen Quaker families left Fairhope Alabama and moved to Costa Rica in search of a more peaceful life.


“Our economy has become so involved with military effort throughout the world that a person can hardly make a living without becoming a part of that system…even the price of milk depends on it.”
Hubert Mendenhall in Time Magazine, 1950 (just before leaving the USA for Costa Rica to found Monteverde)

After traveling the country looking for a place to start their community, the Quakers chose a piece of minimally settled land atop the mountains over San Jose- they called their community Monteverde, or Green Mountain. As the Quakers constructed their community, they decided to produce cheese as it wouldn't spoil on the trip down to market in San Jose. As business picked up local Costa Ricans got involved in the cheese business, producing milk on small farms surrounding the Quaker community. As the base economy changed to support the regions first real industry, surrounding forests were cut down to pave the way for pasture land. The Quakers decision to protect the Cloud Forest above Monteverde (1400 acres) in an effort to protect the communities water supply would fundamentally change the community's economy in years to come. By the late 1960s scientists began coming to the region to study the incredible levels of biodiversity unique to the cloud forest.

Today, the cheese producing factory is now in the hands of a Mexican multi-national company and tourism has become the primary economic focus of the region. Over the past 25 years the land has shifted in composition from incredible amounts of farmland to almost no farms at all. Tourism wasn't something the Quakers particularly wanted, and was the subject of much discussion in the community as tourism picked up in the 70s and 80s in the wake of a series of magazine articles featuring the region, and the Costa Rican president winning the nobel peace prize.  When the cloud forest reserve was founded in 1972 only a handful of visitors ventured to Monteverde. Today over a quarter of a million visitors explore the region every year.  As a pocket of peace in the tropics surrounded by political strife, visitation to Monteverde and Santa Elena steadily increased despite the communities initial hesitation- it's growth was soon supported by an expanded airport and evolving tourist attractions and activities.

Today the Quaker community name "Monteverde" is used for the whole area, embracing five different communities including heavily developed and rural villages. A much broader economic zone extends beyond the political zone, with many people working in Monteverde living up to 45 minutes away.

Monteverde at a Glance:

-It is incredibly unique biologically, with drastic changes in elevation crossing many life zones. For this reason it's Cloud Forests have been described as an island.

-It has horizontal precipitation rather than rain in the form of clouds. This contributes to the incredible amount of plant-life, particularly epiphytes.

Monteverde's wealth of epiphytes: it is particularly known for it's orchids.

-Temperatures are steadily around 70 degrees. The two main "seasons" experienced in the region are a wet and dry season, coinciding with the hurricane seasons. Rainfall can exceed 120 inches during wet season.

-Monteverde provides water for four watersheds, two going into the lake, and two entering rivers. These crucial ecosystem services provide drinking water, and electricity for communities.