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Craigville on Cape Cod has been a place for retreat and restoration for close to 150 years. Established in 1871 by the New England Conference of Christian Churches on Perry's Farm in Barnstable, the land was divided into 288 lots that were sold or leased to members for $100 to $200; clergy were given theirs for free. The following year, the Christian Camp Meeting Association was founded and a meeting tent along with lodging and dining tents were erected; soon families pitched their own tents on their lots within the track's triangular boundaries.

That first summer, people streamed in by carriages and locomotive to participate in a 10 day gathering. Sixty-one ministers of the Christian Church and clergy from other denominations took part in Big Sunday, the camp's first meeting on August 4. The huge Tabernacle tent was packed as participants flowed out of its open sides, sitting three deep on the surrounding ground. The next 90 years saw the building of a hotel, an inn, an open-sided wooden Tabernacle, many "carpenter Gothic" cottages and the beach. Lectures and sermons by resident clergy and distinguished visitors enriched weekdays as well as Sundays.Baseball, tennis and swim teams demonstrated the commitment to fitness of the body, as well as the spirit. Craigville bustled with activity, but only in the summer months.

 

In 1960 the Association joined forces with the Massachusetts Congregational Christian Conference (now the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC) with offices in Congregational House at 14 Beacon Street in Boston. This led to a revitalization and development of Craigville into a much needed year-round retreat facility to serve southeastern Massachusetts. It hosts annual writers' workshops, family retreats, youth groups and rents cottages through local churches.

 

The legacy of prominent clergy lives on with a street named after Dr. Martyn Summerbell and the village itself carries the name of nationally prominent clergyman Dr. J. Austin Craig. Famous and infamous summer visitors included the Joseph Kennedy family, scientist Louis Aggassiz and film star Ruth Hussey. Lizzy Borden once rented a cottage on the bluff overlooking the Nantucket Sound. Artist Norman Rockwell stayed in Craigville while visiting Senator John Kennedy in Hyannisport preparing for a portrait for the Saturday Evening Post.

 

Craigville summer resident B.H. Gates tells us more about life in the village today.

 

*Cape Cod's Craigville: The Vision Still Alive

Nestled up on a bluff, overlooking Nantucket Sound sits the little village of Craigville, Massachusetts. It isn't always easy to find but

once there Craigville is hard to leave and hard to get out of your soul. It is a unique little village that time seems to have forgotten in so many ways.

Craigville was established in the19^th century as a Christian Camp Meeting Association and to this day retains much of its heritage. It began as a tent community as a retreat for worship in the summer. Today it still retains its ties with the Christian community, but the tents are gone and where there was once a tent for worship there is now an wood framed open air Tabernacle. That said, it is so much more. From the shores of Nantucket Sound to the Bluff, to the Midway, past the tennis courts, to the Green and the Tabernacle, much goes on in Craigville.

 

Summers are packed with activities. Concerts and movies in the Tab (what we affectionately call the Tabernacle), volleyball on the Green, games on the ballpark are just some of the fun that can be had while in Craigville. Each summer villagers light up and decorate their homes on Illumination Night and people stroll through to take in the fantastic light show after attending a band concert and ice cream social at the Tab and the Green.

 

Craigville sees visitors from everywhere and from all walks of life. It welcomes everyone to come to relax and renew in its beautiful setting, whether you rent a cottage owned by the conference center, stay at the Inn, Lodge, Manor or Minnie's Seaside Rest or one of the privately owned cottages, there are many places to stay. From the shores of Nantucket Sound on one side, the marshes of Centerville River on another and Lake Elizabeth and Red Lily Ponds to the east, Craigville is surrounded by natural beauty. To watch a sunset over the marsh while standing up on the bluff is a gift in itself, a gift that comes with no cost except one's time to surrender to its exquisite beauty.

 

Swans, ducks, geese, fish and even a herring run are all part of Craigville. Mother nature abounds. The snapping turtles are legend in the great pond, and many a legend has been made up about them but take it from me, they are there and if you are lucky enough to see one swimming across Lake Elizabeth you will be in for a treat, albeit one you want to keep at arm's length.

 

Sunday, of course brings many of us to the "Tab" with a visiting pastor every week. So when we hear the church bell being rung we know that the service will be starting and the organ will strike its opening chords! To worship in a church, open on each side, on a summer's morning is a profound experience. One feels the Divine and that we were meant to be here, in Craigiville, on this earth, enjoying the bounty of God's gift to us of the summer and its beauty, praising the Lord at that moment.

 

Craigville slows down when summer abates but all through the other seasons it is active welcoming many groups for retreats. Throughout the year we see high school honor students, family camps, college retreats, meditation groups and much, much more. One of the most interesting retreats I have seen in this little Christian Camp Meeting Center is Orthodox Jewish men with their long side locks of hair walking down the village streets. How good this does my heart to know that Craigville really is a place for all people in all seasons.

 

So if you have a hankerings for a Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn day fishing in the great pond, spending the day basking on the beach on beautiful Nantucket Sound or just want to sit quietly on the Green reading a book (or checking your e-mail), Craigville awaits. Even in the winter if you would like to skate on Lake Elizabeth and join in a game of ice hockey you might want to discover this little village. Craigville is sitting quietly, waiting for you to find your way to its magic.

 

B. H. Gates, a summer resident of Craigville of 36 years is the author of Murder On Cape Cod.