Murray Grove Story

Universalists visiting the site of Potter and Murray's meeting and Murray's sermon found neither the land nor the chapel any longer in Universalist hands. In the 1830s, groups led by Rev. Abel C. Thomas made a series of pilgrimages to Good Luck, and in 1833 raised a stone over Potter's grave. By now well organized, the Universalists decided to try and purchase the site back from the Methodists. Unsuccessful, they then bought what they called the Memorial Acre, adjacent to the original site. This was the kernel around which Murray Grove was formed.

Piece by piece, more property was purchased, to commemorate Murray and Potter and for the use of Universalist pilgrims. In time a church was built: the Potter Memorial Church, better known as the Red Brick Church. It was dedicated in 1885. The Murray Grove Association organized in 1886, and was incorporated in 1891, as the guiding body for Murray Grove.

Murray Grove House, on the location of the current Lodge building, was first erected in 1890. Renovated over the years, it came to be a three-story hotel: the center of a thriving Universalist summer retreat. During the summer season each year, people gathered from all over the mid-Atlantic and New York-New Jersey regions for religious and social events.

The first half of the twentieth century was the heyday of Murray Grove. It expanded further, in all directions, including the purchase of the property on which the Ballou House stands. The Memorial Boulder was set up outside the church in 1902. There were celebrations and pilgrimages on the centenary, 150th and bicentennial anniversaries of John Murray's sermon, as well as the 50th and 100th birthdays of the Murray Grove Association.

In 1955, during the annual Homecoming, Murray Grove House burned to the ground. In its place, the current buildings were put up. Murray Grove became a Universalist Camp and Conference Center - and from the time of the merger in 1961, Unitarian Universalist. The 1960s and 70s were again an especially active period. Then, as families grew up, the tendency was more for church groups to use the facility on weekends.

The Red Brick Church burned down in 1973. The bell next to the Boulder is all that's left. That same year, the old Potter house was finally razed as unsalvageable.

As they have for over a hundred years, groups of Unitarian Universalists continue to come on retreat, taking advantage of its natural beauty and recreational opportunities, and honoring the history. In 1995, the two hundred acres of the original Potter Homestead were purchased by the U.S. Interior Department as part of the Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Preserve, ensuring that it will remain undeveloped. Guests still use two-mile nature trail down to the marsh at the edge of the bay.

With Homecoming 2000, Murray Grove celebrated both the 230th anniversary of Murrayâs seminal sermon and our on-going renovation and revitalization.