OCTOBER 11-13, 2024
EARLY INFORMATION PACKET
The St. Peter by-the-Lake parish retreat weekend is your chance to renew friendship and
make new ones while enjoying a relaxing getaway at the Valle Crucis Conference Center,
which overlooks a peaceful, rural valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North
Carolina.
Retreat activities are presented in a friendly, relaxed environment. Your weekend will include
home-cooked meals in an intimate cafeteria setting. There is always a Saturday morning
intergenerational parish activity, along with plenty of time to fish, hike, enjoy a Bible study,
visit the Mast General Store, play ping-pong or nap in a rocker don the porch. Every other
year (when the retreat is on the 3rd weekend in October), the Valle Country Fair takes place
right across the street from our location. Saturday night can include a fire in the fireplace with
games and/or singing at the inn, or perhaps a dance at the Apple Barn, followed on Sunday
morning with joyous worship in that same Apple Barn. Zumba has also become a recent
addition to our Saturday activities. There are also both structured and unstructured activities
for children to enjoy.
***Adult beverages – in moderation – are welcome***
A tentative itinerary will be published in the late summer and early fall before the date of the
retreat.
Driving Directions:
Take US 321 North passing through Hickory, Lenoir, an Blowing Rock. At the intersection
with NC 105 in Boone, turn left onto NC-105 South. Drive approximately five miles to the
traffic light at Broadstone Road (State Road 1112, just across the Watauga River Bridge). Turn
right at that road. Drive approximately three miles to the intersection of NC-194 (in front of
the Valle Crucis Elementary School). Turn left onto NC-194 South. Drive approximately 1.3
miles, past the Valle Crucis Conference Center Sign and around a sharp right-hand curve, to
the parking lot of Holy Cross Episcopal Church. Pull into the parking lot and drive down to the
large three-story building (the inn). Approximate driving time is 2 hours from Denver.
GPS Address:
Valle Crucis Conference Center
146 Skiles Way
Banner Elk, NC 28604h
Thank you for registering for the 2023 Valle Crucis Retreat
(Make payments to St. Peter by-the-Lake and note ‘Parish Retreat’ in the Memo Field.)
(You may place your payments in the parish/staff mailbox of the Finance Administrator, or
mail them to St. Peter by-the-Lake, 8433 Fairfield Forest Road, Denver NC 28037, c/o Sherree
Brady, Financial Administrator.