Chat with Cat: Make Spring Special (With Our Specials!)

Despite the fact that it was snowing yesterday, spring is actually here! And for those of us who may have spent the last few months figuring out new ways to stave off cabin fever, the warmer days mean it's time to get outdoors, or even out of town.

So our Q of the week is this: "Does Montreat ever have specials/deals?"

And the A to that Q is: YES!

In fact, right now, Montreat Conference Center is offering some fantastic specials for spring. Maybe the snow days have interfered with your Spring Break plans, and you and your kids now have only three days to call your own. We can help!

Are you a pastor? We know that Holy Week can be exhausting and chaotic, and now you might need a break. Come on over!

Can't wait to get out and hike the trails, enjoy the sunshine, and bask in the rebirth of nature? We have the answer.

Already looking ahead to Memorial Day, but also keeping an eye on your checkbook? Check us out.

Check out our special spring rates, good through most of April and some weeks in May. In addition to a clean, comfortable room in the historic Assembly Inn and a complimentary breakfast, you can also experience all the things that Montreat has to offer: hiking, fishing, shopping, relaxing. If you need to work or play, you can do that too.

But don't forget everything else this area has to offer. Montreat can also provide concierge services to connect our guests with local music, trips to the Biltmore Estate, whitewater rafting adventures, and much more. Don't know where to start? Just ask our knowledgeable staff when you make your reservation.

And don't forget our Personal Sabbath Retreats!

Please keep in mind that all dates and rates are subject to availability. And please stay tuned to our specials page for more great deals in other seasons. Make spring special! Come to Montreat Conference Center!

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Cat is the Sales Associate at Montreat Conference Center. She loves helping people plan the perfect Montreat Experience and would love to hear from you about how this blog can help you.

Cat can be reached at catw@montreat.org or at @Cat_Montreat.

Reflections of a Ranger: Lingering Winter

After several days of tantalizing warm weather, snow is falling again in Montreat. In addition to being officially spring now, I have heard many people tell me how fed up they are with winter. Todays snow storm is not what they wanted. This winter was particularly cold and snowy, driving everyone indoors and nigh unto cabin fever. With schools and businesses closed for days or weeks at a time, it is easy to understand people's frustration. However, this winter has not been without its blessings. In addition to the asthetic value of snow-frosted ridgelines, crystaline seeps, and frozen waterfalls, there have also been some long term benefits to the Montreat valley.

Many of the past summers have been unusually dry in Montreat. The large quantities of snow mean that as it melts this spring, the water table will rise. Not only will this help our streams and Lake Susan, this is a good recipe for brilliant blooms of wildflowers and blossoms this spring. The other benefit is to our hemlock population. As many of you know, the hemlocks in this region have been afflicted with the hemlock wooly adelgid. The weeks of frigid temperatures we suffered at the beginning of the year will help slow the spread of this parasite. While winter did not totally rid us of this problem, it certainly helped. So as the snow continues to fall a mere two weeks before Easter, try and be patient with it and realize that spring will be here soon enough.

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Jason Nanz comes to Montreat from Roanoke, VA. He is a 2006 graduate of Roanoke College, an Eagle Scout, long-time Montreat Ranger and a highly experienced outdoorsman. Jason runs Montreat's Wilderness School and can be reached at montreatwilderness@gmail.com

Chat with Cat: Swans and Televisions

Happy almost spring to everyone! During the past couple of days the snow has disappeared and the weather has reached a near-balmy 60+ degrees. Is it almost summer?

As it warms up and we begin to look toward the seasons to come, I'm going to take the opportunity to get back to some of our Q&A's. I know you all have burning questions about Montreat, so if there's anything that's not getting answered, please send it in.

First question of the day, and one that our (amazing) front desk staff hears on a regular basis:

Q: What are the swans names?

A: The swans are Johnny and June, and they came to us from the Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park in Scotland Neck, NC... which is in the northeast part of our state.

Q: Is it true that there are no TVs or telephones in the rooms?

A: Yes, this is true. There is a large (very large) screen TV set up in the lobby of Assembly Inn, and there are courtesy phones for guest use in the lobby as well, but not in the rooms. Montreat Conference Center made a conscious decision to do this because we wanted to maintain an environment that is set apart from the everyday, and this includes the daily distractions of over-connectedness. Guests at the Conference Center come to us to experience a time dedicated to fellowship, discernment, work, play, and family. By placing TVs and telephones exclusively in the lobby, our guests can focus on what's important to their visit. And when they do want to watch the big game, they can do so together.

Did you learn something new? Do you want to learn more? Please leave your questions in the comment box below!

(Thanks to Audrey Moore, who took this fantastic photo of Johnny or June!)

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Cat is the Sales Associate at Montreat Conference Center. She loves helping people plan the perfect Montreat Experience and would love to hear from you about how this blog can help you.

Cat can be reached at catw@montreat.org or at @Cat_Montreat.

Half-Century of Philippine History is Back Drop for Family Memoir

“I wrote this book because I wanted to share a way of life and a time-period unknown or forgotten to the present generation,” explained John Russell Frank, Ph.D., author of On the Road Home - An American Story (iUniverse, $23.95). Fondly known as “Rusty” by friends and neighbors, Frank’s painstaking research into the life built by his grandfather, Patrick Henry Frank, in the Philippine Islands between the years 1898 and 1946, draws from historically rich letters, war diaries, photographs, memoirs, and oral and video histories that record the family’s epic experiences in the Philippine Islands. From the Spanish-American War through World War II, Frank’s story documents a half-century of conflict, adventure, colonialism, the heartbreaking deaths of family members, businesses ravaged by World War II, and internment in brutal Japanese prison camps.

In praise of On the Road Home, Dr. Henry Copeland, Professor of History and President Emeritus at the College of Wooster, writes: “Rich in the details of everyday life, the history contains enough thick description to warrant the attention of anthropologists, and at the same time, while lovingly recalling the feats of his grandfather as well as American contributions to Philippine society, there is more than enough violence and heartbreak to make the story ultimately a tragic one.”

“This is a warm, enlightening, and deeply moving account of one family’s remarkable adventures through significant trials and challenges associated with WW II,” added Dr. Richard Ray, managing Director and Senior Editor of John Knox Press. “It is decidedly more than that, however,” he continued. “It is an important contribution to our understanding of what it means to be an American citizen in our complex world today.”

On a trip back to the Philippine island of Mindanao “looking for my grandfather’s tread, my father’s beginning, my mother’s arrival, my own spring,” Frank stood watching the tropical evening fall. “The moon was up full,” he writes, “but my shadow was not the only one beside me; my shallow heart was not the only one beating. On the borderline of the mind’s edge where I was walking, my grandfather spoke to me.”

Frank, who graduated from the University of the South and received his M.A. from Furman University as an Angier Duke Fellow, and his Ph.D. from Georgia State University, has been an independent school headmaster and a college professor. He and his wife, Peggy Ann, now live in Montreat, North Carolina.


A book signing and reception will be held Tuesday, March 16, 4:00-5:30 p.m. at Montreat Books and Gifts in the Moore Center at Montreat Conference Center. The public is welcome. For more information, call 828.669.5298 or visit www.montreatbooksandgifts.org.