mother-hive

noun2

1. •
   the principal or source hive of a colony of bees

   • A mother-hive of bees is 24 pence in value. — 1909
2. •
   a location similarly serving as the source of a group of people

   • [John Whitman] came over in the True Love in 1640 to America and lived in Weymouth, Mass., which place became the mother-hive of the New Englanders of the name. — 1882