Millenium Hall

A Description of Millenium Hall and the Country Adjacent [sic] is a 1762 utopian novel by Sarah Scott, originally published anonymously under the moniker "A Gentleman on his Travels." It describes a secluded utopian community of women which embodies mid-eighteenth century bluestocking ideals that sought to reform cultural and economic aspects of British society at large. The text is narrated by a former Jamaican planter traveling to the countryside of Cornwall, who comes upon the community of women with his young, rakish companion, Lamont. Much of the text is spent recounting the design of the community and the personal histories of the women who come to live at the manor the narrator calls Millenium Hall. Each has a different story involving disillusionment with their roles in the patriarchy, eventually leading them to divest from it altogether and find a haven of female friendship on the grounds of the estate. The novel is told in an epistolary format, and draws from contemporary genres like the estate poem and conduct books.

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