Our towering trees, shaded gardens, outdoor labyrinth, and perimeter path all welcome the individual sojourner seeking quiet time away for reflection and deep listening. Add to these our delicious home-cooked and locally-sourced food, gracious hospitality staff, library, and art studio, and Pendle Hill makes an ideal place for a personal retreat or intimate reunion with family and friends at any time of year. Your gifts to the Annual Fund help us to continue to provide an inviting environment for rest, renewal, and focused creativity.

Here are some of the many ways that Pendle Hill accommodates those seeking time away or time together:

Vincent Harding

Such activist-scholars as Vincent Harding, Andrew Billingsley, and Harold “Hal” Weaver chose Pendle Hill as a quiet and supportive place to concentrate on preparing their memoirs as they approached the end of illustrious careers.

Sarah Azaransky

Scholars earlier in their careers, like Sarah Azaransky, were regular visitors here while working on their book manuscripts. Sarah stayed here often while researching in the Peace Collection at Swarthmore and writing This Worldwide Struggle: The International Roots of the Civil Rights Movement (Oxford, June 2017). Another periodic sojourner has been Ifeoma Nwankwo, an English professor at Vanderbilt, whose particular interest lies in U.S. African American and Caribbean literature and culture. She recently completed the manuscript for the book she was working on at Pendle Hill.

The accessibility of such local resources as the Friends Historical Library and the Peace Collection at Swarthmore College and the Quaker Collection at Haverford College situates Pendle Hill well to accommodate researchers. Independent writer Paula Tarnapol Whitacre stayed at Pendle Hill while researching the private papers of Quaker abolitionist Julia Wilbur at Haverford for her recently published biography.

Rabbis Yitzhak Nates (L) and Michael Michlin (R) confer about Yom Kippur service

Clergy of all denominations make retreats of varying length at Pendle Hill. A rabbi from Hazelton, Pennsylvania, Michael Michlin, visits regularly for a couple of days every other month. A pastor and music minister join us for a week every summer while they plan the coming year’s liturgy for their congregation.

Ricardo Levins Morales

Pendle Hill has been, and continues to be, a refuge for those actively engaged in peace and justice struggles to take a break to reflect and re-energize. We are happy to welcome back to Pendle Hill this fall Ricardo Levins Morales, a community organizer and artist whose artwork inspires many in their efforts to achieve justice and equality. Ricardo will be working on a book while he’s here.

Anna Koloseike (L) and Susan Wilson (R) working in the art studio

Pendle Hill is also a place where people come together to enjoy fellowship with family and friends. For example, every year two wonderful women artists meet at Pendle Hill to collaborate in our art studio for a week. Susan Wilson comes from Vermont, and Anna Koloseike, originally from New England, comes up from North Carolina. Anna writes, “What Pendle Hill offers us is a space to share our thoughts, ideas, and inspirations. We give one another support to take on new challenges, conceptually and technically. I can attest that my retreat has changed my work and deepened it. It has deepened our friendship as well.”

Pendle Hill has been a sacred place for healing for four siblings. Separated in pairs at an early age by divorce, they grew up in separate regions of the country, eventually coming together for a retreat at Pendle Hill to strengthen their bonds with each other as adults. And they have been returning every year for the past six years because Pendle Hill played such a significant part in their healing journey together.

Of course, you don’t need a particular project or family event to justify taking time away at Pendle Hill. The benefits of disengaging from one’s daily routine to refresh one’s spirit, experience new perspectives, and find new inspiration are reasons enough to make an individual retreat here. That’s why scores of people annually choose Pendle Hill as their retreat home.

If you have not already done so, please consider making your donation to the Annual Fund, and help us continue to provide sanctuary for rest, renewal, and growth.

Thank you.