The Brothers of the Society of Saint John Evangelist have for years offered hospitality to those seeking a place of quiet and renewal. At the monastery in Cambridge, Massachusetts and at Emery House in West Newbury, Massachusetts, we invite you to find space to reflect on life and renew your spirit. We are pleased to welcome you to these sanctuaries of beauty and reflective stillness. Generous gifts of land and money from Isabella Stewart Gardner, Elbridge Gerry, and the family of then SSJE member and later superior Spence Burton enabled the Society to begin developing the property along Memorial Drive. Today's guesthouse, designed by the famous twentieth-century American architect, Ralph Adams Cram, was the original monastery building, built in 1924 -1928.
In the mid-1930's, Cram designed the chapel and the monastery wing. Built at the height of the Great Depression, the buildings, completed in 1936, are another legacy of the Burton family's philanthropy. The renowned American landscape designer, Fletcher Steele, designed the guesthouse garden in 1934.
The monastery is located along the Charles River, near Harvard University and the Episcopal Divinity School. Guesthouse facilities include large and small meeting rooms, chapels for private and corporate prayer, a library, garden, and single bedrooms, each with its own sink; showers and toilets are nearby. Linens and towels are provided. Guests join the brothers for three meals daily, eaten communally and normally taken in silence, accompanied either by a brother reading aloud or recorded music.
Emery House and its 120 acres of undeveloped meadow and woodland were gifts to the Society from the Emery family, who homesteaded the property in 1641. Over the past two decades, generous benefactors and friends have helped us to conserve the house, woodlands, and meadows as a beautiful sanctuary for retreat.
Emery House is located in West Newbury, Massachusetts, about forty-five miles north of Boston and is immediately adjacent to the 600-acre Maudsley State Park. Emery House features spacious, newly-built and fully-equipped "hermitages," period guest rooms in the 1745 main house, and two rustic wood cabins. Three meals are provided daily, taken communally in the main house. Guests are welcome to join the Brothers in the daily round of monastic worship.
Emery House is easily accessible by public transportation. Out-of-town guests may board regularly-scheduled buses leaving from Logan Airport or South Station in Boston for Newburyport. If you would like to visit us or attend one of our retreats or workshops or for more information, contact the appropriate guesthouse brother:
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