World Fellowship Center — Albany, United States

Secular social-justice camp and conference center in Albany, New Hampshire

In 1953, the New Hampshire Attorney General demanded that World Fellowship Center hand over its lists of guests and presenters. Willard and Ola Uphaus, then the directors, refused to give him names to investigate. Six years of litigation followed, and in 1959 the US Supreme Court upheld the state's contempt finding. Willard Uphaus spent a year in jail, his 70th. Subversive activity was never established. The Center had opened in 1941 in Albany, New Hampshire, founded by Charles and Eugenia Weller with help from Lola Maverick Lloyd and scores of contributors. It began on 290 acres as a physical home for an interfaith movement building peace through intercultural, interracial and inter-religious understanding. Its first taglines were "In a time of war, prepare for peace" and "Rustic but adequate." After the Uphaus case it kept welcoming people others turned away, among them interracial couples, gays and lesbians, and union organizers. Today the Center describes itself as a secular, unaffiliated camp and conference center, with respect for the faith and humanist traditions that ground many guests' commitment to justice. The land has grown to 455 acres, with trails around Whitton Pond and views of Mount Chocorua. A summer day mixes talks and workshops with body movement before breakfast, Art on the Porch in the afternoon, and music on Saturday evenings. Guests also bring out instruments on their own. Meals are cooked for everyone and are mostly vegetarian, and the gardens are organic. Summer programs include children's camps, a ukulele retreat, a choral singing week, a Bioblitz and a Summer Social Justice Institute for activists roughly 18 to 40. Lodging runs from campsites and a hostel to the Davis-Walsh House, Uphaus Lodge and two cabins. The buildings are unheated in winter, so the Center closes them before the first hard frost. Off-season, groups rent the houses, and the community meets through online conversations and a fall series of virtual programs.

Traditions: Interfaith fellowship, Social justice education, Body movement, Choral singing, Capoeira Angola, Organic gardening

Programs: Summer Social Justice Institute, Children's Fellowship, White Mountain Ukulele Retreat, Choral singing week, Bioblitz, Art on the Porch, Singing Resistance, Best of the Summer virtual program series