The North of Eden Retreat Center is located on Norris Mountain, several miles north of Eden, Vermont.
The main building is a beautiful wood and beam structure for retreats for large or small groups with a great porch for taking in the views of the surrounding mountains. The barn is for meals, gatherings, large group work and concerts.
To see images of the Retreat Center and The Retreat Center Dorm...
The dorm is also a beautiful wood and beam structure. Each room has beautifully handmade Vermont beds and furnishing, with luxurious linens. The building is equipped with radiant floor heat for snugness.
Private and Semi-Private Rooms
The dorm has private rooms and also rooms for two people if you would like to share a room with a partner or a friend.
The dorm also has shared rooms with up to five beds. These rooms are not co-ed and less expensive than the private rooms.
The cost below is for the entire retreat:
Single Room - $600
Double Room - $400 each person
Quad Room (same sex) - $320
Quad Room (same sex) top bunk - $200
Camping
For outdoor camping for the summer or fall retreats, the land offers many beautiful spots, including an open space for group camping or more secluded spots for privacy.
There is no cost for camping.
Group Space
Meeting rooms, lean tos and the cabin offer intimate meeting spaces for each small group.
by Bob Murray
Five miles north of Eden, Vermont and two miles up an often-intimidating dirt road toward the summit of Norris Mountain lies an oasis. Each time I have travelled that rugged road up the mountain, I felt something shift in my body as the forest seemed to part and the view widened to welcome me to the NOE Retreat Center and “the land” that holds it. Fred Gluck described his arrival here once, late afternoon facing west in his car, as being greeted by an almost overpowering blinding light that felt genuinely death-like to him. Of course, it was just the sun but I believe him, as if the voice of the land speaks softly but forcefully—“Feel the presence of death while you’re here; experience death while you’re here. Die, if you’re ready!”
For those of us who feel a genuine closeness to this place already, the literal notion of dying here might even hold some real attraction. Personally, to fantasize about my last physical day on this earth, at some future retreat, my heart finally giving out, bursting in the presence of loved ones, frankly I can’t imagine a better way to go.
But the death that the voice of the land speaks of is a different kind. This dying of course is the dying to the self, a dying so crucial and prerequisite to truly living. We come to this sacred place to die, to let go of those pieces of ourselves that keep us from who we truly are, who God wants us to be, to enter the place of God in each of us. We come here to speak from the deepest fathoms of our hearts, to listen to what comes out of our mouths when our minds are exhausted, when they have nothing left to say. We come here to open, to be opened, to expose ourselves. To be naked, raw, vulnerable and be held at the same time. Held by the love of those in the midst of the same experience, by their tenderness, their awe at the courage it takes to come to this place, to fully participate, to truly engage.
This place is not for the faint-hearted, which means that it’s for all of us, because we all have huge hearts that are just dying to burst open, dying to expose ourselves to ourselves and to the world. This is a place to do that. This is a place that encourages it, inspires it, demands nothing less from each of us. The voice of the land says, “Witness, engage, behold!” “Witness, engage, behold!” I love that word behold. Be and hold together. We all hold the space here together for others to be themselves, who they truly are. We are all beheld in this place, if we truly want it.
Here in this place called the NOE Retreat Center, I can be open, and opening. I open willingly because I am held at the same time, held by the love of those who come here with me, but also held by the space itself, both inside and outside of the building. Inside, dark green walls, shiny hardwood floors and paneling, the contrast of dark and light. The exposed beams, the sheer strength they possess. Simply to set foot in this space is to be held, is to behold, is to be loved by the power that inhabits this space. And outside, the unencumbered view of the mountains to the north, stark yet inviting, their hard edges softened from this peaceful vantage. The peace that permeates this entire space is a penetrating, enlivening peace.