A place of sanctuary: Historic La Foret offers retreat options for families and groups during the pandemic
La Foret Conference and Retreat Center is a hidden gem in the Pikes Peak region. The nonprofit organization sits on over 400 acres in Black Forest offering a place to hold corporate meetings, weddings, family reunions or to just find serenity.
When guests arrive on the property at 6145 Shoup Road (80908) it’s as if the forest is giving them a big hug. Tall Lodge Pole Pine trees surround them, gently waving in the wind, as they make their way along a winding road.
La Foret was deeded to the Rocky Mountain Conference United Church of Christ by Alice Bemis Taylor after her death in 1942. She intended for the space to be a place of contentment for all. Director of Guest Services Melanie Brim says the mission is to create, “a place of sanctuary to enjoy this beautiful place. It’s for everyone.”
Only 15 miles from Colorado Springs, La Foret feels like a camp in the mountains.
Numerous buildings stand on the property and are used for events. There are also nine cabins, a yurt village, numerous trails and a meditative labyrinth.
The Ponderosa Lodge was recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building used to be Taylor’s home. She hoped the Pikes Peak region would be the art hub of the west, so she would invite her friends to the site so they could experience the beauty of the area. Eventually, she was able to start the Bemis School of Art.
The lodge is a colossal two-story building of hand-hewn logs harvested from the west side of Pikes Peak. The interior is even more spectacular with a soaring cathedral ceiling, a cozy brick fireplace at one end of the great room and a grand, double staircase of logs on the other.
Four other buildings can also host events. See laforet.org/meeting-venues.
The Taylor Memorial chapel was built in 1929, in memory of Taylor’s late husband, Frederick Morgan Pike Taylor. It is a mission-style structure with smooth, sand-color, curving adobe walls and wooden beams projecting from the roof designed by Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem.
La Foret is a popular place for camping and youth day camps throughout the year, but the pandemic that changed all that. “This year because we weren’t allowed to hold our summer camps, our cabins were just sitting empty,” said Brim. During a normal summer, the Bemis Day Camp Program, from the Bemis School of Art and the FAC Theatre company are held weekly.
Brim notes every year the site has been filled with children playing and adults finding sanctuary, and “we were missing those interactions.”
To make lemonade out of lemons, they decided to open up the cabins to families. “We’ve had over 80 families that have been able to come out and stay from a day or two up to a week. Some multiple times. It’s been really nice to have our cabins filled up again with families,” says Brim.
The site includes nine cabins of varying sizes and a yurt village stands at the ready to host more adventurous souls who don’t need solid walls.
The Kinnikinnik is one of two cabins with full kitchens. It sleeps 12 people in three bedrooms.
The center is currently offering “pandemic rental special” pricing for all their cabins. Those with kitchens are $195 per night. Three of the cabins have a refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker. The rest of the cabins offer just bedrooms and bathrooms with no cooking facilities ($120 per night). Groups can order food from the dining hall, while individual families can bring a cooler and fill the chest with ice from the dining hall.
All the cabins are heated and include “natural air-conditioning.” “We call it opening the windows,” says Brim.
Brim said some families who have been experiencing COVID-19 quarantines together have rented the bigger cabins. See details on the website’s family camping section, laforet.org/family-camping.
The La Foret staff realized that many families are struggling financially during this COVID-19 outbreak and want to help them to have a family outing. The center created Camperships — discounts to help with the financial burden of a family vacation. Camperships can be used for camps and retreats. Local churches can request funds for their congregation and La Foret will supply coupon codes to take $50 off registration for weekend retreats and $150 off registration for weeklong camps.
Besides volleyball, basketball, horseshoes and gaga ball, families can hike through the many trails on site. A camp box may be purchased that includes a scavenger hunt, a bingo game, supplies to make friendship bracelets, rock painting tools, a s’mores kit and bird and wildflower identification guides.
Brim says cleaning is done for shared sports equipment. T there is a clean bin and dirty bin, “kind of like at the doctor’s office with the clean pens and dirty pens,” she says. When staff sees the clean equipment getting low, they go out and sanitize any dirty equipment.
Retreats at La Foret are still happening in person, though most are virtual. In November, a retreat called Sacred Conversations to End Racism ($200), will be held over three months.
The center is also hosting an inaugural event, the self-paced Fall Squabbit Fun Run/Walk 5K 2020, as a fundraiser. “With all our cancellations through the year, we thought ‘how can we raise money?’,” said Brim who coaches cross country at The Classical Academy.
Sign up to run or walk by Oct. 31. The center asks that registrants either donate or raise $30 that will go to the upkeep of La Foret. To register, go to tinyurl.com/y8kqbsqh. A leaderboard will be published on the La Foret Facebook page weekly.
Allison Robenstein/ Woodmen Edition
La Foret’s Taylor Memorial Chapel was built by Alice Bemis Taylor, the original owner of the property, as a memorial for her husband after he passed away. The mission-style structure is on the National Register of Historic Places and is available to rent for weddings.
Allison Robenstein/Woodmen Edition
The Ponderosa Lodge was built in 1929 for Alice Bemis Taylor and her husband Frederick Morgan Pike Taylor. It was designed by Denver architect Jules Jacques Benois Benedict in 1928. It is built of lumber cut from the western slope of Pikes Peak.
Allison Robenstein/Woodmen Edition
Ponderosa Lodge provides event space for corporate conferences, weddings and family gatherings. It was recently put onto the National Register of Historic Places. Originally, the lodge was the home of Alice Bemis Taylor.
Courtesy of La Foret Conference and Retreat Center
La Foret Director of Guest Services Melanie Brim (right) and Director of Transformational Programming Logan Bennett rest after a run through the trails at the center. Anyone who wishes to run or walk the trails as part of the Squabbit Run 5K 2020 are welcome to make an appointment to be onsite.
Allison Robenstein/Woodmen Edition
The inside of La Foret’s Taylor Memorial Chapel is a mix of hand-carved beams on the ceiling and a hand painted altar. The chapel bell came from an old mission church in Santa Fe.