Family Time on Retreat at Silver Lake

One of the best parts of working year-round at Silver Lake is that I get to enjoy camp with my family. We have celebrated birthdays and baptisms, reconnected with old friends, and just generally love running around the woods together. When schools shut down last spring, we had a safe place to get out of the house and be active outside. I am so grateful that my children have had the chance to grow up at camp.

And now, I get to share that experience with you.

We have had to make a lot of changes to the way we operate at Silver Lake, and one of the great new things we can do is open up the camp retreat experience to your family with Family Retreats. Because we are not full of traditional retreat groups this season, your family has the unique opportunity to rent one of our buildings and plan your own family getaway.

For more than 60 years, Silver Lake has hosted retreat weekends for groups that want to spend some time unplugged from their daily lives. Groups come to spend time in nature, to interact face-to-face with each other, and to listen for God’s voice in the wind in the trees.

In 2020, we have had to make so many sacrifices. We have given up summer camp and traditional vacations and even celebrating holidays with extended family. We have learned how to go to work and school from our living rooms, and we are connected via technology more than ever before. It is exhausting, and it’s time for a break!

Bring your family to Silver Lake, where there is only spotty cell phone reception and wifi is only available in public areas. Leave your screens at home and get reacquainted with the people you spend every day with. Sleep in, wake up with the sun, enjoy a steaming cup of coffee on the porch, run around the ballfield, explore the chapel by the waterfall, play board games, and fall asleep tired. Take advantage of Chef Lynn’s homecooked meals, delivered to your building, or cook for yourself. Roast marshmallows around a campfire and try your hand at identifying winter constellations.

When you arrive at your building, you will find ideas for ways to explore faith together as a family. The words for traditional Silver Lake graces will be posted (if you have a camper in your family, they can teach you the tunes!), and there will be a guidebook with suggestions for activities to explore themes of gratitude, joy, kindness, peace, and love within your family.

In addition to exploring our site, you can take advantage of local winter activities within a short drive of Silver Lake. Mohawk, Butternut, and Catamount ski areas are all less than 40 minutes away. The Appalachian Trail has several trail heads from Kent to Salisbury. And the Sharon Audubon Society offers 11 miles of trails that are very kid-friendly.

It’s hard to explain the joy of watching your children, who have endured so much, from online schooling to video chat play dates, lose themselves in the wonder of exploring a wooded stream. Or to see their pure exuberance at being able to run until their legs can’t hold them anymore and they collapse into a laughing heap. It is hard to explain, so I invite you to

experience it for yourself.

We are booking Family Retreats in January, February, and March. Contact us at slcc@silverlakect.org to inquire about dates and rates.

We can’t wait to welcome your family to Silver Lake this winter.