History of Aldersgate

In the fall of 1960, a special session of the former Newark Annual Conference authorized the purchase of two adjacent tracks of land in Stillwater, New Jersey for use as a camp.

One tract of land consisted of 90 acres the other 102 acres. This action was taken on the recommendation of a Camp Site Committee that had studied the feasibility of having a camp, and had looked at several parcels of land in Sussex, Warren and Hunterdon Counties. A motion was passed to place an amount of $200,000 in a quadrennial funding campaign authorized by the Conference and known as The Faith in Action Campaign.

The following year the Conference adopted a statement on the functions to be served by the camp. The committee also consulted with Miss Elizabeth Brown, the Director of Camping for the Methodist Church General Board of Education in Nashville. Her constant admonition was that in planning for the camp “form must follow function”; we must decide what use we wish to make of the camp and then buildings and land must conform to that decision.

In 1962, during the session of Conference in June, an eight-year development plan was adopted. Later that year, the two properties were deeded to the Board of Education of the Newark Annual Conference. We now had our campsite and soon drawings and specifications were adopted for the construction of a day-use shelter. A contractor from Newton was awarded the contract and construction began.

Having a parcel of land to be used by people of the Conference made us realize that someone had to care for it. An active layman from our church in Somerville was employed in this capacity. Plans for a caretaker’s Lodge were drawn up.

The Lodge was completed in 1963 and dedicated on February 1st with about 50 people in attendance.

The year was 1964 and another important milestone in the development of our camp.

The Conference Session authorized a financial campaign among our churches to raise an "amount of $500,000 to be held for the purpose of building and development of Camp Aldersgate".

The spring of 1965 saw the opening of the Small Group Camping Area. During the summer of 1965 more than 2,900 persons availed themselves of the various facilities at the Camp. On October 2nd of that year Epworth Center was consecrated.

The foresight of the Conference in purchasing and developing a Camp was seen during the 1966 summer season when Camp Aldersgate was filled to capacity. One of the important facilities in the master plan was a building to house conference type experiences. The groundbreaking for this building, which was to become Wesley Lodge, was held on a rainy day in October, with Bishop Price A. Taylor presiding. Over 200 people attended the event, which because of the rain was held in Epworth Center.

Money for the Aldersgate Campaign finally totaled over $530,000 and the next steps in the master plan were taken. Three buildings were constructed to house permanent summer staff and to provide for a retreat center during the rest of the year. This was named Asbury Village and was dedicated on May 6th, 1967.

In 1972 we purchased an additional tract of 20 acres of land with frontage on Swartswood Lake. This was made possible by a bequest of $100,000 from the Estate of Mary A. Dietz. The site included a 50x100-foot swimming pool, bathhouse with 7-room apartment. The pool was put in operating condition and late in July was used by Aldersgate campers on a daily basis. Bishop Taylor dedicated it on Saturday, September 25th.

In the spring of 1995 Kaleidoscope Inc. a firm of consultants that specializes in camp and retreat ministry assisted Aldersgate in developing a long range master plan.

In the spring of 1997 the pool at the Dietz facility was no longer deemed safe for use, it had served us well but lived passed its useful life. The board voted to permanently close the Dietz pool for safety and environmental concerns. For years we were swimming at the Swartswood State Park.

October 1997 saw the completion of the Appenzeller Memorial Chapel. The Chapel, a multi-function building, was a gift from the churches of Korea, in memory of Henry Appenzeller who started the Korean Methodist church over 100 years ago.

Sunday June 21st, 1998 saw the dedication of the Chapel, with well over 500 in attendance, along with a sizable contingent from Korea including five bishops as well as many members of the Appenzeller family. Our own Bishop Alfred Johnson officiated the service of dedication.

1998 also marked the first year of separate financial books from the Northern New Jersey Conference. The Annual Conference of 2000 saw the merger of the Northern and Southern conferences to form the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference. This merger included the joining of both Aldersgate Center and Mt. Misery.

In November 2001, an electrical malfunction caused two buildings in Asbury Village to be destroyed with a third suffering some exterior damage.

October 20th, 2002 saw the groundbreaking ceremony for the Forsman Pool Complex. Presiding over the day was Bishop Alfred Johnson. Construction started in January of 2003 and the pool, pavilion, and bathhouse were ready for use at the beginning of camp in 2004.

The camp would be dealt another blow when Wesley Lodge was destroyed in an electrical fire in November 2005. While this curtailed the main retreat season, the staff and volunteers acted quickly to complete some major renovations at Epworth Center, with a redesigned kitchen, bathrooms and with the help of Habitat for Humanity, a new washroom. This enabled the summer camp program to continue and an albeit limited retreat season.

A rebuilding task force was assembled and a firm of architects was hired over the summer of 2006 to redesign a new Wesley and Asbury for the 21st century. A capital campaign was approved later that year to raise the necessary funds.