For continued use of the property for retreats and spiritual formation, the church had to abandon sleeping in the upstairs level of the house. For several years, participants slept in makeshift tents, the covered pavilion, on the large screened-in porch, and in one overpacked room, known as the living room.

Among the treasures church members found in the House was an original painting by Virgil Williams, a 19th Century American artist (see this Washington Post article).  The painting, View of Mt. Katahdin from the West Bank of the Penobscot River, was displayed in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Gallery of American Art until that building closed for restoration.  In 2007, the church sold the painting at auction, where it was purchased by an anonymous buyer. The Retreat House Restoration Fund received $82,800. Read the excerpt from Gary Mason’s book Beyond the Great North Mountain (pdf).

Using the sale of the painting as seed money, the church began a decade long Congregational Visioning process of discernment, researching resources, securing architectural drawings, and raising funds to provide a plan for going forward with renovating the old house.

The 50th Anniversary celebration at the Retreat Center in 2015 offered an opportunity for a devoted team of volunteers to present a vision for how the Retreat House could become a welcoming, comfortable, ADA-accessible, and fire-safety code compliant Retreat Center for the next 50 years.

Thus began the discernment process of choosing and fine-tuning architectural drawings and presenting a viable funding stream for the renovation of the property. As part of the funding package, the church sold 52 acres of the agricultural land surrounding the Center House to the Davis family in 2018 while retaining 3 acres for its own use. The sale included covenants that will require this land to remain in an agricultural preserve forever. For more information about the Land Sale (pdf).

In October 2017, by Congregational vote, the church approved the plan to proceed with the renovation. The church hired the Winchester, VA-based architectural firm, Reader and Schwartz, and the Wardensville, West Virginia-based construction firm, RARCO Contracting, Inc.  The final punch list was completed, and the final invoice was paid in September 2020. Click here to view the “Congregational Meeting: Retreat House Re-Tooling” pdf from October 2017.

Although the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the full reopening of the Retreat Center, many families made use of it, and volunteers continue to make improvements to the house, cabins, and property. In 2022, church use of the property began and the return of the all-Church Worship and Picnic took place in October. Enthusiasm and appreciation for the renovation is in full bloom.

This history is a window into the future of how the Retreat Center moves forward. The Retreat Center is run by a dedicated cadre of church members and volunteers.  Some of the Church member volunteers were children when the property was acquired, and that devotion is a direct result of the experiences they enjoyed there over the years. Thus, volunteer skills (professional as well as novice); funding for yearly operations (as well as future capital projects); and scheduling retreats is essential for sustaining this restorative property for use by Christ Congregational Church members, families, friends, and the wider church community.  

To read more about the history of the retreat house dating back to the 1800s, click here to read “Retreat House Remembrances”.