Simpsonwood - A Retreat Center

We just got home yesterday from a Sunday School Class retreat at Simpsonwood. This is a beautiful retreat facility located on the banks of the Chattahoochee River just North of the perimeter road (I-285) of Atlanta. The land was donated to the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church back in the 6o's. There was stipulation that the land not be sold but used as a retreat center. Many church members of the day objected to accepting the gift (which had already been refused by the Presbyterian Church I understand), but it was eventually accepted. For a number of years the land was mostly unused, but gradually the building began. First a church -- later an administration building with large kitchen and dining rooms, meeting rooms, a large lobby, and a beautiful rocking chair back porch. The grounds now house the administrative offices of the conference (the Bishop's office among others), 5 lodging facilities, numerous walking trails and other recreational features such as swimming pool, soccer field, tennis courts, etc.

The Fellowship class of our church asked my DH to be the spiritual leader of the retreat. We had a group of 36 attend and had a wonderful time. We had 3 "sessions" and a worship service, but the remainder of the time was ours to spend enjoying the beautiful surrounding and spending time with our Christian friends. Here is a pic or the atrium where we had our sessions, at the bottom of the page is the chapel where our worship service was held. We went for a nice long wooded walk along the river Sunday afternoon. The weather was perfect. The wildlife was enjoying the habitat as well - we saw 3 deer and numerous squirrels. The entire weekend provided a refreshing and renewing experience.

BTW, the retreat center accepts church groups from all denominations, family reunions, and other groups. One can also check in as in any motel or hotel and spend a night or two, with or without meals included. A homeschool organization was setting up to use one of the convention buildings for CRCT testing as we left Monday morning.