World Fellowship Center
The World Fellowship Center is a retreat and conference center located in Albany, New Hampshire, United States. It is open from late June to approximately Labor Day weekend, with a few workshops and other events taking place before or afterwards. Nestled at the southeastern edge of the White Mountains National Forest, east of Mount Chocorua off Route 16 in Albany, it currently comprises approximately 455 acres (184 ha), including two nature trails, a soccer field, and boating and swimming access to a large pond. It can host over 200 guests and features speakers, groups, organizations, and entertainers from around the world. The buildings and lodging facilities consist of one large lodge (the main lodge), a conference room (Schmauch house), several campsites, a large house (Uphaus lodge) a quarter mile away from the main lodge, and two cottages that date from the early to mid-19th century. There was also a large 18th century farmhouse on site that was discontinued as a lodging facility in 2008 and demolished completely in 2010.
History
Though the World Fellowship of Faiths had existed as an organization since 1929, the site itself was founded in the summer of 1941 by Charles Winston Weller, who had been a speechwriter for Theodore Roosevelt,[1] and Weller's wife Eugenia. With financial backing from various investors, the Wellers purchased 290 acres (120 ha) of land, intending it to be used as a summer retreat center. The initial slogan was "in a time of war, prepare for peace." The Wellers assumed the position of co-directors from 1941 until 1953. That year, a retired theologian and pacifist, Willard Uphaus, became director. Uphaus had previously been fired from Hastings College in Nebraska in the 1930s for advocating radical viewpoints, and he remained committed to the cause of pacifism during World War Two. From the beginning, Uphaus was scrutinized and attacked by William Loeb III, publisher of the Manchester Union Leader, New Hampshire's statewide newspaper. Subsequently, in 1954 Uphaus was pressured by New Hampshire Attorney General Louis Wyman to surrender a list of all attendees of World Fellowship. Uphaus refused, and after a long legal battle that involved numerous subpoenas and appeals, he was sentenced to a year in jail in December 1959 for contempt of court. Uphaus and his wife Ola resumed directorship in 1961, a position he retained until 1970.[2]
In 1969, Katheryn "Kit" and her husband Christoph Schmauch became directors. Kit, a teacher, was from Ohio, and Christoph, a United Church of Christ minister, was from East Germany, but had immigrated to the United States in the late 1950s. They have had, to date, the longest tenure of directorship, during which they made numerous expansions, improvements and additions to the place, including the purchase of 135 acres (55 ha) and the construction of lodging facilities for seasonal workers as well as a year-round house for the directors. The Schmauchs instituted a working wage for employees (prior to that, all wages were based on tips left by guests); purchased laundry facilities, constructed dormitory bunks for their staff, established a children's fellowship, and blazed nature trails for hiking. The Schmauchs remained co-directors until 1999. The following year, Andrea Walsh and Andrew Davis, living in Keene, New Hampshire, with their infant daughter at the time, took up the reins of directorship. During their tenure, they have expanded the program to include weddings in June and September, increase the presence of people of color, and create more programs, venues and offerings devoted to the arts, body movement (such as yoga, paneurythymy, Capoeira Angola and Feldenkrais), and exercise (such as hiking and/or biking in the nearby White Mountain National Forest).[3]
Program and offerings
The current weekly program typically features guest lecturers weekday mornings and evenings, a cookout Thursday evening, a talent show Friday night, musical and/or dance venues Saturday night, and a luncheon featuring a Thanksgiving-style turkey dinner every Sunday afternoon. Vegetarian, vegan and/or gluten-free options are available upon request. In recent years, notable presenters and/or attendees have included activists/authors/professors Noam Chomsky, Aviva Chomsky (his daughter), Peter Marcuse (son of Herbert Marcuse), Mab Segrest, Lynne Stewart, Steve Schwerner (brother of slain civil rights activist Michael Schwerner), Steve Ellner, and several members of the Clamshell Alliance, an anti-nuclear organization that opposed the construction of the Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant in the mid-1970s. Some notable musical performers have included David Rovics, the Adam Ezra group, Pamela Means, and numerous other folk (and other genre) musicians predominantly, though not exclusively, from greater Boston and New York. The current mission statement of the World Fellowship Center is "to promote peace and social justice through education and dialogue inspired by nature", often shortened to the motto "where social justice meets nature."
References
Coordinates: 43°55′52″N 71°13′10″W / 43.93111°N 71.21944°W