One of Srila Prabhupada’s most cherished desires was to establish the New Vrindaban Community in America. He spoke at great length about building a replica of Vrindavan India, where there are seven main temples. In 1968, the New Vrindaban Community was founded in West Virginia to fulfill Prabhupada’s dream of an ideal society based on Krishna Consciousness, or love of God. When Prabhupada set down the first guidelines for such a community, the idea seemed out of reach to the small band of devotees struggling through a hard winter on a small, rundown farm. There was no electricity and no running water in their only building, a battered pioneer shack. But when Srila Prabhupada had a vision of “seven temples on the seven hills,” suddenly all obstacles seemed insignificant to his followers. By 1972, the community had expanded from 100 acres to 500 acres.

The New Vrindaban Holy Dham is set in the beautiful and peaceful Appalachian Mountains in the rural West Virginia Panhandle. This spiritual community has been a place of pilgrimage for many thousands of visitors each year.