Wisdom House Retreat & Conference Center — Litchfield, United States

Interfaith retreat and conference center on 70 acres in Litchfield, Connecticut

In 1967, a Buddhist retreat took place on grounds that Catholic sisters had run as a convent and novitiate. That gathering marked the start of the center's transition into the interfaith retreat center now called Wisdom House, in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut. The property was originally Spruce Brook Farm. The Daughters of Wisdom bought it in 1949 from the family of Margaret and Frederick Busk and named it Mary Immaculate Novitiate. Seat of Wisdom College was housed there from 1960. The congregation traces its beginnings to 18th-century France and to Saint Louis de Montfort and Blessed Marie Louise Trichet, and Wisdom House continues as its ministry. In the chapel is the icon of Sister Mary Antoinette, an American Daughter of Wisdom killed in the 1964 Congo massacre. The campus covers 70 acres of meadows, woods and brooks. It includes the Main Building, a Farmhouse dating to 1770, and Spruce Brook Barn, built around 1925, whose meeting room seats 40. The grounds hold a labyrinth, a Peace Garden, shrine areas and a Medieval Mary Garden, and solar panels help offset the power load. The center can house up to 150 guests overnight, and there is an art gallery, a seasonal pool, and a bookstore in the Main Building. More than 500 groups come each year. Public programs range from Centering Prayer days and a Women's Writing Retreat to a Men's Recovery Retreat, Zoom meditation and cooking classes with the head chef. Individuals can book private day or overnight retreats, and writers and artists have used them for focused work. Staff Wellness Days for organizations have included yoga, vision boards and sound healing.

Traditions: Centering Prayer, Buddhist Meditation, Labyrinth Walking, Yoga, Sound Healing, Spiritual Companioning

Programs: Centering Prayer: Resting in the Silence at the Heart of All Things, Women's Writing Retreat, Emotional Healing through Expressive Writing Retreat, Men's Recovery Retreat, Finding Our Way: The Labyrinth, Meditations, Freewriting, Zoom Meditation, Staff Wellness Days, Private Day and Overnight Retreats