Blowing Rock Conference Center
The First Sixty
Years
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he year was 1945 and World
War II was drawing to an end. President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt had died and Harry Truman became the country’s new
president. “The Lost Weekend” won Best
Picture and “On the Atchison,
The
75-acre Hughes Estate, occupying the highest elevation in the Blowing Rock
area, had been the summer home of a
Local historians relate
that this was just one of Mr. Hughes’ homes.
Area residents remember him for his lavish entertaining and fast horses. During this period the fields around the
spring were planted in buckwheat.
Accounts indicate that the Hughes Estate and the Moses Cone Estate
provided the sites for the majority of the entertaining in Blowing Rock during
the early 1900’s, but there was one major difference. Since the Cones did not permit alcoholic
beverages, the more spirited parties took place at the end of
The 1945 purchase of the
Hughes Estate by the Southern Synod of the Evangelical and Reformed Church
included 58 acres and a variety of outbuildings. Mrs. Annie Shuford, a member of what is now
Trinity UCC in Conover, spearheaded a campaign to raise sufficient funds to
cover the $16,500.00 purchase price from members of the Shuford family.
In 1948, by action of the
Southern Synod, the property was named “The Blowing Rock Assembly Grounds”.
Mr. and Mrs. Perry A.
Carpenter were hired in 1949 as manager and hostess for the first summer of
operation, serving 516 overnight guests.
Although the Carpenters served only one year, it was through their
efforts that the Synod recognized the wisdom of employing full time management
during their summer season.
1950-1970:
The Early Years
The papers for
incorporation of the Blowing Rock Assembly Grounds were filed on November 8,
1950.
For the first several
years of operation, the “big white house” served as the only facility at
Blowing Rock Assembly Grounds, with all activities taking place in that one
building. In the early 1950’s the
transformation from a family’s summer estate into an assembly grounds for the
church began in 1952-53 with the building of Rowe Dorm, named for Rev. Dr.
Walter W. Rowe, whose vision inspired the property acquisition.
Early
sketch of the Assembly Grounds
During those same years,
Shuford Hall’s Guild Room and Brotherhood Hall were erected to provide dining
and meeting space, and the beautiful outdoor chapel was constructed. With the combination of Rowe Motel and the
old manor house, the Assembly Grounds could now accommodate eighty-one guests
at one time.
Over the course of a
summer season, as many as 1,150 guests would stay at the Assembly Grounds. In 1960, the cottages were built; Shuford A, Shuford B, Barringer (C) and
Hoover (D) Cottages brought a new dimension to the Assembly Grounds.
During
this busy and exciting period of 1950 until 1967, Mr. and Mrs. Homer (Edith) Bonds,
from
Rev. Dr. Sterling Whitener
succeeded Rev. Dillinger in 1969, serving as part-time Executive Director.
During those early years
of 1950-1970, the minutes of Board of Trustees meetings contain a number of
interesting notations:
- Congregations were challenged to give 50¢ per
member to the Assembly Grounds, and many did. It was noted in 1958 that $5,097.95 was
received, and that over the previous fifteen years a total of $91,370.72
had been given by churches and individuals, about one-third of BRAG’s
operating budget at that time.
- In 1954, the American Freedom Association from
- The 1959 summer folder was mailed to every E
& R pastor east of the Mississippi River, and to Congregational
Christian Churches in
- The youth fellowships of
- The 17th item in the agenda of the
1960 fall board meeting was a discussion concerning problems during the
past season; “We had too many outsiders and our own people had to sleep in
cars, a dog was running through the kitchen and dining room, the loose
operation of concessions, the sale of articles on the grounds, and the
asking of groups to fund pet projects”.
On the whole, the board
meeting minutes from those early years do not differ dramatically from today’s:
faithful staff and committed board members all wrestling with what it means to
be a church-related conference center, paying the bills, maintaining and
upgrading the facility, and being of service.
The 1970’s: The Abernethy Years
The
1970’s were years of financial challenges.
After three years of having a full time executive director, the
operation had not expanded either regionally or denominationally, so the Board
of Trustees was forced to return to employing only seasonal staff.
Mike and Flora Belle Abernethy and their family,
members of Grace UCC in
From 1973 to 1975 a
capital campaign to raise $50,000 to build a tent and trailer area was
unsuccessful, and in 1977 the Southern Conference of the United Church of
Christ recommended, based on a task force report, the closure of the Assembly
Grounds. The incorporated BRAG Board of
Trustees, feeling that the Assembly Grounds was important in the life of the
Conference, rejected the report and charted a new course of leadership and
expansion.
The 1980’s: The Clapp Years
In March of 1979 Rev. Ken
Clapp was called to serve as the full-time General Manager of the Assembly
Grounds. The all-inclusive
responsibilities of the position included employee supervision, maintenance and
upkeep of buildings, adequate and tasty meals, worship services at the ‘Little
White Church’, initiation and implementation of Christian Education programs,
preparation of printed materials, and publication of promotional articles’.
In
1979, Ken approached the Board of Trustees with a concern that demand for the
use of the Grounds far exceeded its capacity.
He suggested that an expansion program be considered to deal with this
“problem”. The Board acted, amid
feelings of nostalgia, to tear down the three-story manor house and replace it
with a new building, for the cost of making the old house fully usable would
have been prohibitive. The removal of
the house began late that year.
It was also in the fall of
1979 that the Board of Trustees approved the winterization of the Cottages, and
the Assembly Grounds became a year-round operation. By the following March, Zwingli Cottage had
been built and Calvin Cottage was under construction.
But bigger things were to come, for in October
1980, ground was broken for Corriher Lodge.
Just as the Shuford family had rallied around the great potential of the
idea of an assembly grounds in the 1940’s, another family, Mr. and Mrs. J. Fred
Corriher, Sr. and their sons Fred Jr. and Gene provided financial impetus for
the creation of this new facility.
In 1984 Rowe
Dorm was winterized for year round usage, and as the decade drew to a close,
the Southern Conference Youth Center, Abernethy Cottage and the Ken Clapp
Gymnatorium were constructed, and dedicated in May of 1990.
Ken had been hired to
develop the Assembly Grounds as a viable ministry. With exceptional support from trustees,
churches, staff and others:
- BRAG became the second member of the American
Youth Hostels in
- College students were employed as summer staff
- Non-church groups were invited to utilize the
Assembly Grounds
- BRAG’s first Confirmation Retreat began in
1980, and other programs soon followed
- A land-use plan was developed
- The operation exceeded $100,000 in revenues
- The BRAG Corps, our church-related booster
club, began in 1980
- A major gift from the Corriher family enabled
lodge construction to begin
- BRAG and John’s River Camp entered into a
shared staffing arrangement
- Capital expenditures of over two million
dollars more than doubled the size of the operation
In ten years the Assembly
Grounds had gone from a seasonal operation with part-time volunteer management
to a year-round operation with multiple professional staff members, had
invested greatly in capital improvements, and had developed strong partnerships
with not-for-profit groups outside the United Church of Christ.
In the summer of 1989, Ken
Clapp accepted a new call and change in his ministry as chaplain of his Alma
Mater,
1990-2001: The Johnson Years
Eric
Johnson was called in 1989 to be the Assembly Grounds’ next Executive
Director. Eric and the Board of Trustees
were confronted with a different set of issues than any of their predecessors. Utilization of the Assembly Grounds was
booming and adult space was in demand, yet there was no successful programmatic
following. Times had changed, and
buildings that were viable in the 1950’s did not always meet present needs. A major concern was that some of our larger
United Church of Christ retreats were unhappy with the dorm accommodations.
The Board of Trustees
engaged the Babcock School of Business to conduct a field study, and it was
determined that expansion was a viable option.
However, the idea of new construction was met with mixed reviews by the
Board of Trustees and friends of the Assembly Grounds. While some felt that modern facilities would
attract more guests, it was also perceived that present facilities were not in
good repair and that programming was not driving the need for additional
lodging.
The ‘expansionist’ members
of the Board of Trustees prevailed, over 1.5 million dollars was borrowed, and
in 1995 the construction of South Corriher Lodge and the expansion of Leonard
Dining Room (so named for Rev. Billy Joe Leonard, President of the BRAG Board
of Trustees from 1961 to 1979) was begun.
The goal was for new business and new revenues to pay off the debt. Business did expand – $400,000 in annual
revenues grew to $650,000. However,
annual loan payments of $186,000 and increased operating expenses began to take
their toll on cash reserves. The
operation was losing ground and it was time to act boldly to reduce the debt.
In 2001, Eric completed
nearly twelve years of service and resigned to pursue other interests, and
Steve MacDow agreed to serve as Acting Director for the interim period.
It was also in 2001 that the Board of Trustees launched a
capital campaign to pay off the construction debt and upgrade the
facilities. The “Lifting Spirits High”
campaign raised $265,000, which, after expenses, was used for debt
reduction. The Board’s decision to
expand has been proven a sound one – the new rooms represent one-third of
present utilization and 200-250 guests are routinely hosted.
View of South Corriher
Lodge, 2005
Alive
and Well: 2002 and Beyond
The Board of Trustees
called
The Board of Trustees
guided and authorized Bill to reduce the debt and operate a balanced
budget. Year round and summer staff
expenses were adjusted to adhere more closely to national norms. Buffering parcels of land purchased in the
late 1980’s and early 1990’s not being used by the Grounds were evaluated and
portions were sold to retire the debt.
In
2003, the consulting firm of Richard K. Chamberlain and Associates was
contracted to help the Board focus on the long-term future of the Assembly
Grounds. A year of study resulted in the
Board addressing key issues so that the Grounds would become a viable ministry
for years to come. A new mission
statement was written that recognizes that we are an ecumenical
center; the name was changed to more accurately describe who we are today, and
the vision that we are to be a well-run and well maintained conference center
was identified. The mission statement
exemplifies why we are here: This holy ground of
As in the early years,
committed Board members and a faithful staff continue to deal with what it
means to be church-related, where to upgrade the facility, and how to best
serve all who pass through our doors.
Our ministry, now over 16,000 guest nights per year, is fueled by the
effort of countless people who share in leading programs, directing retreats,
cleaning dining room tables, chaperoning youth groups, volunteering for Special
Days, and bringing work groups – all to bring us closer to living out the
special mission that is the
Thousands of diverse
individuals now travel to these Blue Ridge Mountains in
“To this place,
fashioned by the Divine Hand, go hundreds of people each season just to breathe
the air and catch the vision of larger things.”
Banks J. Peeler
Editor, A Story of the Southern Synod
Of the Evangelical and Reformed Church
1968