About the New Harmony Retreat
The retreat was held in the beginnng of May, 2006. This page is for informational purposes only. Click here to see our next retreat location.
May 4-6, 2006
The New Harmony Inn, New
Harmony, Indiana 
In ancient times, there was a prayer for "the Stranger within our gates." Because this hotel is a human institution to serve people, and not solely a money-making organization, we hope that God will grant you peace and rest while you are under our roof.
--Sign in the inn lobby
This may just be the most peaceful and relaxing location we have found yet for our retreats. This beautiful inn sitting along a picturesque small lake is the perfect location to retreat and renew yourself in the nurturing world of cross stitch.
The New Harmony Inn provides food that is excellent, simple fare. The comfortable rooms are furnished in a simple Harmonist style similar to the Shakers. Trees stand next to glass walls enclosing a heated pool. Easy walking trails leave the inn's beautifully landscaped grounds and wind through surrounding forests and fields.
Sitting on a quiet street at the edge of this small town with a population of only 800, it is an easy walk into the quaint downtown. Numerous shops sell antiques, fine art, pottery, vintage books, garden accessories, and more abound.
Situated on the Wabash River in southwestern Indiana, no more than a short day's drive from most of the Midwest, the town was the site of two of America's great utopian societies. Initially founded in the Indiana wilderness as as a spiritual sanctuary by the Harmonie Society, New Harmony became a model community focusing on equality and innovation. Midwest Living has said, "The gentle spirit of visionaries who founded New Harmony lingers along the streets of this town."
A hedge maze stands as a remembrance of a Harmonist tradition. Hedge mazes were planted in all communities they founded to represent the overcoming of life's obstacles in one's life journey.
Just down the street from the inn is the outdoor Cathedral Labyrinth. Made of polished granite, it is widely recognized as both the most beautiful and most expensive labyrinth in the country. Walking the path to the center is a mentally and spiritually rewarding experience.
Join us in New Harmony and renew yourself in this magical place!
Click here to see additional photos and read travel book excerpts about New Harmony
• Extended class with the teacher
of your choice (classes filled first come, first serve)
• All class kits and materials
• Lodging in the beautiful New Harmony Inn
• All dinners and breakfasts
• Goodie bags
• The opportunity to win door prizes, including the Grand Door
Prize in 2006 of free
registration at a future retreat
• Optional additional class and lunch package
• Concert
by Tom Scheidt
Basic 2006 retreat package is $595 based on double occupancy. Other rates apply for private rooms without a roommate and for non-stitchers. See Registration Form for full details.
To receive a hard copy of our brochure, either e-mail your request along with your mailing address or send a SASE to: A Stitcher's Retreat. 7215 Stonerun Place, Middletown, Ohio 45044.
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E-mail A Stitcher's
Retreat at XSGetaway@cinci.rr.com
URL: http://www.astitchersretreat.com
URL: http://www.turnerretreats.com
All photographs by Randy Turner.
From Indiana: Off the Beaten Path by Bill and Phyllis Thomas (Globe Pequot Press)
[Discussing when the Harmonists first came to the area in 1814.] There they purchased 30,000 acres of land along the riverbank and carved from the dense woodlands the personification of a dream--a tiny communal settlement they named Harmonie. An industrious people, the Harmonists established a variety of successful industries that ranged from the making of fine silks to the distilling of whiskey, and their products were much in demand throughout the eastern United States. They developed prefabricated houses, dug tunnels beneath them, and used the cool air therein to air-condition their dwellings. Oranges were grown year-round in their greenhouses.
[In 1825, the entire town was sold to Robert Owens, a Scottish industrialist who made a second attempt at forming a utopian society.] Owen envisioned a Utopia of a different sort, a commune that focused on innovative education and intellectual disputes. His New Harmony lured scientists, artists, writers, and social reformers whose ideas and creations made a lasting impact on our country's history. America's first free public school system, kindergarten, day-care center, free library, trade school, woman's club, and civic dramatic club came to fruition here.
Description of the town:
From Scenic Driving: Indiana by Douglas
Wissing (Falcon
Publishing)
Drive Number 6: The Road to Utopia: Urban Evansville to romantic
New Harmony
[When the town's revitalization began in the 1940s, New Harmony was envisioned...] ...as a place of spiritual awakening... The town became the destination for assorted clergy, writers, and artists.
The Cathedral Labyrinth and Sacred Garden is based on the sacred geometries of Chartres Cathredal in France. The brick wall next to the labyrinth encloses the Harmonist Cemetery.
From Indiana: Off the Beaten Path
Enclosed within the brick walls of the Harmonist Cemetery...are more than 200 unmarked graves--symbolic of continued equality in death--and several [Ninth century Hopewell] Indian burial mounds.
Serving as the alter for the Roofless Church, a paved courtyard that's open to the sky, is a unique dome that's shaped like an inverted rosebud, but casts the shadow of a full-blown rose.
[The design of this interdenominational church] was inspired by writer George Sand, who remarked that the sky was the only roof vast enough to embrace all of worshipping humanity.
Although it's not historic, the red brick New Harmony Inn is a charming mix of traditional and modern design that blends in well with its surroundings.
Trees march right up to glass walls that enclose a heated pool, and the sky is always visible through a sliding glass roof. The beautifully landscaped grounds share the shoreline of a placid lake with open fields and patches of forest with hiking paths.
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E-mail A Stitcher's
Retreat at XSGetaway@cinci.rr.com
URL: http://www.turnerretreats.com
URL: http://www.astitchersretreat.com
Free Registration Prize Details
Two lucky stitchers in 2006 will win free registration at a future getaway of their choice hosted by A Stitcher's Retreat! One retreat package will be given as the Grand Door Prize with the name of the lucky attendee being drawn at random. The second free retreat package will be given away based on a different method of selection that will be revealed at the retreat.
The restrictions are:
• The prize is non-transferrable.
• The free registration must be used within three years of
receipt.
• The same person can not win both free registrations at the
retreat. Once a person has won, they are not eligible to win the
second free registration prize at the same retreat.
• These prizes are only available to attending stitchers who
paid the registration fee. Non-stitching attendees are not eligible.
The winner of a free registration is not eligible the year they are
redeeming their free registration.
• You must be present to win, so don't make plans to
leave early!