Welcome to where the mountainside is alive with the spirit and beauty of nature! We hope you will come out to our
Quaker-sponsored retreat place and nourish your spirit and your love of nature.
The Friends Wilderness Center is a unique wilderness preserve and spiritual sanctuary offering events, personal or small group retreats, overnight hospitality (with meals) in our cabin, camping, fun, and the exploring of nature within a large land preserve called Rolling Ridge. We offer a unique setting steeped in nature to aid your spiritual journey. The Center is located within the Rolling Ridge conservation property, 15-20 minutes outside of Harpers Ferry or Charles Town, West Virgina. That's one hour or less west from the Beltway in Northern Virginia, a little longer if coming from Washington, DC. See our "Contact or Visit Us" web page on how to get to the Center. We don't provide directions or a map of our location on this web site, and we advise against using on-line mapping services because they don't show us or are very wrong and we want you to receive correct directions from us for your point of origin and know to expect you arriving.
The land in the preserve we share is near the Appalachian Trail and stretches to a point on the Shenandoah River. We welcome all who respect nature and our mission. Our mission is to care for the rustic natural setting entrusted to us and to enable others to find spiritual nurturing there. One need not be Quaker or of any particular faith or practice to appreciate and benefit from Friends Wilderness Center. We offer the experience of peaceful fulfillment in a quiet wilderness refuge, of spiritual growth harmony with nature, of learning about being stewards of the land.
One or more can visit the Center for a day's retreat or hike, attend a scheduled event (see our "Events" web page), have your own personal retreat or group event, or stay several nights camping indoors (wooden yurt), under a roof (tree house) or outdoors (bring your tent). Or enjoy Niles Cabin hospitality with living room, porch, real beds, shared bathroom, kitchen full utilities and tasty meals. Silent retreats are also an option. Got an event idea in mind? Just ask. You need not attend one of our planned events to enjoy the Center: design your own experience.
For a more enjoyable and safe experience, we heartily recommend you read the "Essential Information" page on this web site before contacting us or coming out to Friends Wilderness Center.
Our Mission and History
The Friends Wilderness Center was founded over 29 years ago to provide a place and events to help people come out into the wilderness to meditate and to feed their spirituality through experiencing a rustic natural environment. Our mission includes working to preserve this remarkable natural sanctuary. We hope you^ll have your own transcending experience here. Friends Wilderness Center is a nonprofit Quaker organization that hosts a variety of events of your design or ours for Quakers and/or for a variety of people. If interested, you can learn about the Quakers via the links on this web site or see a few books we have in our Cabin library, or simply ask us. Since we recognize that all people have good in them and the right and freedom to have whatever spiritual or religious orientation they feel best, we do not preach or recruit. You^re welcome to express your spirituality here.
The Center has primary use of dozens of acres of land within Rolling Ridge and use of a treehouse, yurt, and the Niles Cabin. Surrounding it all is 1,400 other acres of forest owned and managed by the nonprofit steward, Rolling Ridge Foundation. Some of this land and the facilities on it is used by two other nonprofit groups: For Love of Children Outdoor Education Center and the Study Retreat Community of Rolling Ridge. We have community with them, but they have their own designated areas, programs, structures and residents and we ask that you also respect their space. (A map is available in the Niles Cabin that can give you a layout of the land and its features.)
Here in Rolling Ridge you will find a uniquely preserved ecological space filled with an array of wonders: creeks and waterfalls; a spring that bubbles up through a bed of ferns; a mysterious underground brook; scattered boulders and chunks of quartz, as well as a free-standing rock chimney and the occasional arrowhead to remind us of earlier local dwellers. A network of foot trails and old logging trails crisscross the land for miles. Wildlife abounds.
Thanks to the generosity and foresight of a unique Quaker couple, Henry and Mary Cushing Niles, this natural treasure has been preserved for future generations. The Niles bought their first piece of land here in 1952 and acquired additional land up to 1979. They lived in a simple cabin on this land, well into their nineties. Before they passed, they bequeathed their land and cabin to the Rolling Ridge Foundation, to be enjoyed by the three "user" groups" which bring in a variety of people who appreciate this sanctuary and offered events.
Through subsequent gifts and purchases, the original property has increased to 1,400 acres of hillside forest and streams. By 1979 all this land had been turned over to Rolling Ridge Foundation to serve as steward of the land. To enhance and facilitate spiritual search and connection -- through either personal or group retreats, or one of the monthly programs -- a tree house, a yurt, a fire circle, and the Niles cabin are available through the Friends Wilderness Center. See our Events page to see the variety and nature of activities offered. Hiking and camping are encouraged, both by individuals and by small organized groups. And the cabin offers day visits, or overnight stays (with meals), for those desiring either more comfort. If you think their vision is amazing, consider helping us preserve this unique sanctuary and resources for future generations through your membership or a donation.
At the Friends Wilderness Center you can broaden and deepen your spiritual practice by settling into the wilderness and finding silence, inner light, and messages from the spirit, either individually or in community. Let us know if you have an idea or event you^d like us to sponsor or host.
General Manager, and Wonder in the Kitchen, is Sheila Bach. A list of our Board can be found on the To Contact page on this web site.
The Friends Wilderness Center is an independent 501(c)(3) charitable organization. We rely substantially on contributions, which are tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law. Use fees also help support us. Volunteers are always appreciated to help maintain trails, cabin and camp site and do administration.
To receive email notices of upcoming events, just click on "Sign up for event emails" on the left hand column and sign up. It's a great way to stay informed through infrequent emails. You'll get no more than an average of one a month.
Questions? Please contact:
Photo above: Raven Rocks overlook -- a lovely 45-minute hike from Niles Cabin. Updated May 9, 2008
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