Highland Retreat

Highland Retreat Highland Retreat offers a mountain setting where people meet Jesus Christ, explore nature, and build relationships.

If you've been following us for a while, you will have seen some pictures of the process of turning Green Valley House i...
09/01/2026

If you've been following us for a while, you will have seen some pictures of the process of turning Green Valley House into our newest guest facility, including the recent excitement of the new driveway and parking area. Now we're pleased to announce that Green Valley House is open for guest reservations starting in mid-October!

We've created a webpage full of info about this building, including additional (captioned) pictures, a floor plan, details about the building amenities, and more. Hopefully most of your questions about Green Valley House are answered there, so go check it out at the link below! More photos will be added as we finish up the last projects (mainly in the larger kitchen and living area, and outside).

Additionally, because we want people to be able to see for themselves what this new facility has to offer, we are hoping to have an open house on October 31! If that interests you, save the date; details are still being finalized, and we will share more as we plan the open house.

https://highlandretreat.org/facilities/green-valley-house/

Check out what happened at Highland yesterday: the new driveway and parking lot for Green Valley House is now paved! The...
08/21/2026

Check out what happened at Highland yesterday: the new driveway and parking lot for Green Valley House is now paved!

The good folks from Partners Excavating did a lot of site prep work over the last few weeks, and then tackled the big job of paving yesterday. There's now a nice parking area for Green Valley House (open for reservations, mid-October and beyond), and the driveway also passes in front of the former Gehman residence (which will be staff/volunteer housing) and then exits onto Rt 259 directly across from Upper Highland Drive. Thanks for all the great work, friends! It looks wonderful, and will make for safe, smooth access to our newest guest facility!

(Also look for the video clip posted today of the end of the paving process, if you want to see a bit more!)

08/21/2026

Check out what happened at Highland yesterday: the new driveway and parking lot for Green Valley House is now paved!

This snippet of video was taken as the work was wrapping up around 2pm yesterday. You can see the last bit of the parking area being rolled flat, and then there's a look at the length of driveway that passes in front of Green Valley House (open for reservations, mid-October and beyond) and the former Gehman residence (which will be staff/volunteer housing) and then exits onto Rt 259 directly across from Upper Highland Drive. The good folks from Partners Excavating did a lot of site prep work over the last few weeks, and then tackled the big job of paving yesterday. Thanks for all the great work, friends! It looks wonderful, and will make for safe, smooth access to our newest guest facility!

(Also look for today's post with some still images of the paving process, if you want to see a bit more!)

All God's critters have a place in the choir . . . including these ones that were photographed over the course of the su...
08/19/2026

All God's critters have a place in the choir . . . including these ones that were photographed over the course of the summer. Even if you're not the type who wants to hold the critters yourself, hopefully you agree that the God who created all the complex and beautiful and weird and fascinating animals is a truly amazing God!

Most of these pictures were among our summer camp photos. But the picture of the water snake chowing down on a fish was shared with us by an observant guest who spotted the meal in progress under the low water bridge earlier this month. Thanks, Sarah, for sharing your picture!

It's been an eventful week for projects at Highland, with the delivery of cabins being one of the most fun to witness! T...
08/07/2026

It's been an eventful week for projects at Highland, with the delivery of cabins being one of the most fun to witness!

These cabins have already been in process for more than a year (and there will be yet more months before they are actually ready for use), but getting them on the ground at Highland is a momentous step. All the construction up to this point happened at Massanutten Technical Center during the past school year, but this week they took a journey! These pictures were taken on Tuesday, during the delivery of the second cabin to the Upper Campground. (Picture 2 shows the first one that was delivered. To help you visualize where this is, note that the cars in the background are in Red Oak Lodge's parking lot. And then look for this cabin in the background of one of the later photos, to see how the two are situated in relation to each other.)

Deron and his maintenance crew have worked hard over the last weeks to get four gravel pads ready to receive the cabins. Deron and Lester were putting the final touches on the pad for the second cabin as it was on the trailer making its way up the hill to the Upper Campground. Our narrow and winding Upper Highland Drive is certainly not the most convenient road for an oversize load, but the folks from Helmuth Builders knew exactly how to handle it. They told us they have made deliveries up more challenging roads! Once up in the campground, it was just a matter of getting the cabin in position and carefully guiding it off the trailer.

Next time you are out here, make sure you look for these new cabins, both these two in the Upper Campground and the two in the Lower Campground! Just please be aware that they are not open for use yet (nor will they be this fall) as there is still a long list of tasks to be completed before they can be made available for guests.

Our last camp for this summer was Mini Camp, July 27-29. This lively group of 7- to 10-year-olds dove into their camp ac...
08/04/2026

Our last camp for this summer was Mini Camp, July 27-29. This lively group of 7- to 10-year-olds dove into their camp activities with vim and vigor! The middle elementary age is a great one for hands-on nature activities and crafts, forming relationships with counselors and cabin mates, enthusiastic game playing, and so much more. We sure enjoyed having these campers with us to wrap up the 2026 camp season!

Our 13- to 16-year-old Resident Camp D crew (July 19-23) had their choice of a special adventure activity: paddling, cav...
07/31/2026

Our 13- to 16-year-old Resident Camp D crew (July 19-23) had their choice of a special adventure activity: paddling, caving, rock climbing, or hiking. And when they weren't off on those adventures, they were choosing from a variety of camp activities here at Highland! They collectively enjoyed a little bit of everything during the days, and we extended the fun later into the evening for these older campers, with group games and activities (including line dancing on the deck and skit night) following each evening's worship service. It was a busy, fun week for this group of teens!

Summer flowers seem especially cheerful on a slightly damp day! This bright cluster at the Lower Highland entrance is a ...
07/28/2026

Summer flowers seem especially cheerful on a slightly damp day! This bright cluster at the Lower Highland entrance is a simple but beautiful legacy from our dear neighbor Becky Gehman, who transplanted them many years ago from her own flower beds just down the road.

Our larger camp the week of July 12-16 was a fun group of 10- to 12-year-olds, Resident Camp C! They had a blast while e...
07/25/2026

Our larger camp the week of July 12-16 was a fun group of 10- to 12-year-olds, Resident Camp C! They had a blast while experiencing all kinds of camp activities, from archery and low challenge course to capture the flag and skit night. Mixed into the fun are real lessons on following Jesus. All of this together makes for an excellent week of camp!

One of our camps last week (July 12-17) was Wilderness Camp B. This small group of 14- to 16-year-olds spent most of the...
07/22/2026

One of our camps last week (July 12-17) was Wilderness Camp B. This small group of 14- to 16-year-olds spent most of their week in the woods, cooking meals over campfires and enjoying relaxed time together. But, unlike Wilderness Camp A, this group paired the chill vibe of wilderness camp with the adventure of one day at Seneca Rocks in West Virginia, where they hiked and climbed! The good folks at SHACC housed and fed our crew while they were in West Virginia, and the rock climbing excursion was led by Wild Guyde Adventures.

Address

14783 Upper Highland Drive
Bergton, VA
22811

Telephone

+15407050554

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Highland Retreat posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Highland Retreat:

Shortcuts

Share

Category