A History of Cedar Hill Enrichment Center

In 1975, the Appalachian Catholic Bishops had completed the pastoral letter, “This Land is Home to Me,” (download PDF) describing both the beauty and the plight of Appalachia, but there was not yet a Catholic Church or parish in the area. Forsyth County was still missionary territory. That same year, four Adrian Dominican Sisters - Kathryn Cliatt, June Racicot and two others - came to Forsyth County following a call to serve people who were economilcally poor and whose basic needs were not being met by existing programs. By ministerial design they created programs as the people revealed their greatest needs. Continuous prayerful discernment was conducted through individual client interviews as well as annual community meetings where participants were invited to name needs which were of greatest importance to them and to discuss ways to address these needs. A thrift store, food pantry and emergency fund were quickly in place and running. Programs for elderly, children, parenting skills, Hispanics, and assistance to file tax returns followed as client and volunteer populations grew.

"Four Adrian Dominican Sisters came to the area to serve people whose basic needs were not being met."

Undestanding that both the causes and the solutions to problems caused by poverty lie within the community itself, the Sisters founded The Place and quickly expanded the ministry by inviting the people of Forsyth County to study the conditions of families caught in poverty and to participate in solutions. Good people of all religious denominations and socioeconomic groups responded, cooperating to establish urgently needed agencies and institutions. The four Sisters facilitated the development of non-profit corporations and mentored boards of directors for them. As a result of their efforts, there are now seven dynamic free-standing institutions which function as spin-offs of The Place and involve the services of numerious staff and volunteers to continuously respond to human crisis and need in the North Georgia area:

Georgia Highlands Medical Services, Inc. provides services of several physicians with an extensive support staff.

Family Haven, Inc. offers safe haven for women & children suffering domestic abuse.

Sojourner’s House provides emergency shelter for families.

The Forsyth County Medical Fund is a donor-advised fund administered by the metropolitan Atlanta Community Foundation which provides funds for The Place staff to purchase medications for low-income clients. The Fund also attends to the needs of families at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

United Way of Forsyth County, Inc. does the major funding of all these agencies.

Good Shepherd Place (a development of Catholic Housing Initiative) is a residential building of 48 apartments serving the area's elderly.

... and finally, Cedar Hill Enrichment Center:

June Racicot and Kathryn Cliatt located Benaiah Farms, as Cedar Hill was called in those days, while doing their ministries with the rural poor in Forsyth county. June & Kathryn would work “in town” and return home to the farm, growing it into a wonderful dairy goat farm and becoming good stewards of the land as the purpose of the farm began to come clear.

After nineteen years of poverty work in Forsyth and surrounding counties through Rural Social Services, known locally as The Place, Kathryn and June were called to create a center of spirituality for women. This call came first through a woman whose prayer group in Atlanta was looking for a safe place to gather for a day of retreat. She had asked if her group could come to the Sisters’ goat farm. She also wanted the Sisters to guide them through the retreat. It was a request that proved to be prophetic.

"After nineteen years of poverty work, the Sisters were called to create a center of spirituality for women."

The call came again from a group of ordained Presbyterian women ministers who needed time, space and nurturing. Again, the request was prophetic. Shortly thereafter, the original prayer group returned and the Sisters were sure that the call to build this women's center for spirituality was real. It was evident that there was a need for a place where women could come together, speak freely, be loved, be accepted and be nurtured; a place where they could pray, sing, dance, laugh and cry; a place where they could hold sacred circles, telling and sharing their stories; a place where women could explore their own spiritual paths while honoring the Sacred Feminine; a place where their souls could grow and the sacredness of Earth be celebrated.

In early spring of 1995 June and Kathryn gathered together a group of interested people to begin a feasibility study. They soon discovered that there were no retreat centers within a one hundred mile radius of Atlanta which offered programs geared to women’s unique spiritual needs, and so the work began. Negotiations with the Archdiocese of Atlanta for use of the property the sisters were living on were underway, the application process for 501(c)3 non-profit status started, and the formation of the first Board of Directors was undertaken. Programs such as Spa for The Spirit Day, Sacred Circles and Well-Springs were developed and offered a new/old approach to discovering, questioning and contemplating one’s relationship with the Divine. It became apparent that the farm was beginning a journey of welcoming individuals and groups for spiritual growth and nurturing. Cedar Hill Enrichment Center was born.

"As more and more women gathered, it became evident that the small living room was inadequate."

As more and more women gathered at Cedar Hill, it became evident that the small living room in the Sisters’ home was inadequate and that a large gathering space was essential for the center to grow. With no financial resources at hand, it was not feasible to build a new center. After some pondering and praying on this situation Kathryn and June called on two friends, one an architect, the other a retired building contractor, to consider the possibility of renovating the eighty-year-old barn that was at the time housing their herd of twelve dairy goats. Both men thought the job was possible so the renovation began in June 1995. The goats were moved to new quarters and by the following spring the work was completed. The old barn now housed a large gathering room, a kitchen, a bathroom, a small library and a massage room - all completed with carpeting, heat and air-conditioning.

Since the beginning, Cedar Hill offered a rich variety of programs for the spiritual enrichment of the women who visited. As the programs grew, so did the staff. Burma Parks began preparing meals for the visitors in the fall of 1996. Kat Stratton joined the community in 1998 as a part-time volunteer-in-residence. By 2001, Kat became the full time office manager, and soon after became a Master Gardener and a Habitat Stewart with the National Wildlife Federation.

As requests for corporate and overnight retreats increased, once again more space was needed. Kathryn and June moved from the farmhouse into their own staff residence on the property in June 2003 and the farmhouse was renovated for guest quarters. 

"What will emerge? Who will step forward to tend this sacred space?"

After years of love and devotion to the spiritual and ecological ministry of Cedar Hill, June and Kathryn began considering the longevity of the center and realized that if Cedar Hill was to live into the future it was time to search for new leadership. As it happened, that new leadership was already a major element of Cedar Hill: Kat Stratton had been devoted to Cedar Hill for years, and she was ready to accept the position of Executive Director. With the assurance of their ongoing love, prayer and support, June and Kathryn moved into semi-retirement and Kat picked up where they had left off. By continuing to build strong relationships within the North Georgia community, She was ensuring the sustainability and longevity of Cedar Hill Enrichment Center into the future.

Now is an exciting time of newness for Cedar Hill. What will emerge in response to women’s needs, and to the needs of the community and our planet? Who of you, dear friends, will step forward to staff new programs, to assume leadership as Board members and committee members, to become Guardians of this Center and to volunteer to tend this sacred space?

Over the years, as Cedar Hill has grown and evolved to meet the needs of the local and global community, the mission has expanded to reflect this. Originally our mission was to be a center of spirituality, ecology and Earth education. In 2007, we reconfirmed that this was indeed our vision for the future. Cedar Hill has long been a spiritual home for many people and as stewards of this land, our founders put into place good ecological practices. Our vision as we move forward is to become an educational center and a resource to bring the community together to explore, discuss, brainstorm and implement a more sustainable approach to living now and in the future. Cedar Hill’s tag line expresses it best: Connecting Earth & Spirit. 

If you would like to become more deeply involved in the work of Cedar Hill, please visit our "Contribute" page, call 770.887.0051 or email us.

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