A place of peace at your disposal:
In early October, I had the opportunity to spend a few days off-grid at the Peace Hermitage cabins hosted by the Medical Mission Sisters in Fox Chase.
This truly amazing place is just one of the many, many surprises that I’ve encountered during my many adventure treks around the city’s edge as part of Walk Around Philadelphia.
Just off of Pine Road, these sweet cabins are both financially accessible and public transit accessible, which is fantastic…
(Suggested donation of $30/night & just a short walk from regional rail & bus)
The cabins are simple, but well appointed with everything you need for a quiet contemplative stay:
- Comfy twin bed
- Small writing desk
- Cozy recliner
- Kitchenette w/ mini fridge, hot plate, microwave (+ coffee maker, toaster & more)
- Shower & toilet
- Small bookshelf w/ a couple thoughtfully curated spiritual texts
There’s also a beautiful tiny stone chapel that provides a lovely contemplative space.
(While the Peace Hermitage cabins are run by an order of nuns, they’re welcoming of all folk regardless of your path of understanding.)
It’s truly an amazing opportunity for solitude… one doesn’t needs to interact with the nuns at all.
Just follow the signs, find your cabin, and allow yourself to settle…
… the only visitors that you will encounter are the deer & squirrels…
This beautiful plot of wooded land is located literally right on the city’s edge… bisected by the perimeter.
And, not only are these lovely cabins on the Walk Around Philadelphia perimeter “trail” but they’re right next to Fox Chase Farm, Pennypack Park, Lorimer Park, and there’s ~20+ miles of trails to be followed through the woods all the way down to the Delaware River, or all the way out to Southampton.
It’s not surprising to find spiritual texts in a hermitage retreat run by a group of nuns… but I was surprised to learn the etymology of the word “search”… from the Latin “circare” meaning “to go around”.
This felt like a sweet bit of coincidence, having learned about this place through my ~100+ mile walk around the city’s edge. And the perimeter-walk has been described as similar to a labyrinth, with just one path & direction to follow but many twists & turns…
I was grateful to have this space for rest and rejuvenation after an intense month of event production, exhibit wrangling & walk facilitating… much of my work in the community involves lots of amazing humans, excessive correspondence and frequent interruptions… to put it all down for a few days and just be with nature was a real gift.
Huge thanks to the Medical Mission Sisters for making this unique opportunity available!
Coming back into the swirl of the world isn’t always easy after a quiet time of retreat, and this transition felt particularly challenging as I reconnected and saw the headlines of intense conflict boiling over in Israel/Palestine.
This grieved me deeply, and I struggled with the cognitive dissonance of knowing that so many were experiencing such trauma and pain just as I was enjoying such peace and quiet.
And yet it still feels important to find opportunities to step back, regroup, recharge so as to then be able to take more effective action in helping build a world that is more just and more peaceful for all.
I highlight this resource here in case it might be of service for you or someone you know in the Philadelphia area who might benefit from a few days of solitude in nature close to home.
May we all find peace
