Longtime aid worker William Powers needed to disconnect when he returned to the United States after a decade working on conservation projects in Africa and Latin America.
Powers' need coincided with his meeting a doctor who lives off the grid in Chatham County. The doctor, who earns less than $11,000 a year to avoid paying taxes, lives in a 12-foot-by-12-foot cabin without electricity or running water. That size structure under N.C. law does not have to have sewer hook-ups and is not taxable. When the doctor went on a road trip for several months, Powers moved into the cabin.
Powers wrote a book about his experience and about the community of similar folks living off the grid in Chatham County. His book is titled: "Twelve by Twelve: A one-room cabin off the grid and beyond the American Dream."
