Honoring each of the eight members of the East Coast Michael Student Gathering community who are no longer with us.Click here to view the PDF
History of the East Coast Michael Gathering
In 2002, twelve Michael students attended a small weekend gathering hosted in a private home by an East Coast Michael student. The gathering was such a success that those present agreed to meet again the following year. The first ‘official’ East Coast Michael Gathering was held April 2004 at Sophia House, a small retreat center near the Twin Oaks Intentional Community southeast of Charlottesville, Virginia.
By 2009, the East Coast Michael Gathering had outgrown Sophia House and so
in 2010 we expanded to the Claymont Retreat Center near Charles Town, West Virginia. In
2012 we moved to the Sevenoaks Retreat Center in Madison, Virginia located in the
foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains north of Charlottesville, Virginia.
The East Coast Michael Gathering was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic
and was held as an online ZOOM Conference-style Gathering in 2021. Over 200 people
registered for three days of excellent presentations and we all learned a lot about
Zoom. In 2022 the Gathering again was held via Zoom. In 2023 we were able to return
to Sevenoaks for an in-person Gathering only to discover that Sevenoaks was being
sold and would no longer be a retreat center. The search was then on for a new
location where we could accommodate both an in-person and a Zoom gathering.
Luckily, for 2024 we’ve found Massanetta Springs Conference Center in Harrisonburg,
Virginia. Massanetta Springs is in the same part of Virginia as Sevenoaks. It’s just
about an hour’s drive west of Sevenoaks on the other side of the Blue Ridge
Mountains. ECMG will be from May 6th to May 12th 2025 and will be held at Massanetta Springs!
Save the dates! MAY 6th to May 12th 2025!
The retreat for 2025 will be held at Massanetta Springs