A Note from Dan Snow:

“My first recollection of the place that’s now Mission Farm is from traveling Vermont Route 4 with my father, Leslie. In the 1960’s he was chairman of the Vermont Forests and Parks board. I sometimes rode with him when he went to meetings around the state. The Coolidge State Forest covers 22,500 acres including the slopes under Killington Mountain’s ski trails. Once in our travels, along the Ottauquechee River just north of Bridgewater, I spied an incongruous site; a flash of white across the green valley. As quickly as it appeared it was gone, but the memory of the little stone church fixed in my teenage mind. Fast-forward 55 years and once again I’m gazing at the edifice that is The Church of Our Saviour. It’s not just a fleeting glance this time. I’ve been invited into the Mission Farm community to take part in the ongoing celebration of its unique buildings and grounds.

The “mission” I’ve been assigned by the community members is to craft an assemblage of stones into a space that will concentrate the earth's energy into a light-capturing atmosphere. When completed, an area of the hillside meadow above the church will become a physical and intangible attraction. Taking a word from the ancient Greek to describe an earthwork used for music recitals and poetry recitations, Mission Farm’s “Odeon” will host gatherings for performance and ceremony.

Architectural details from the church have informed the Odeon’s design. A seating arrangement of granite slabs, their surfaces speckled with iridescent mica like the church’s facade, are set atop retaining walls built in a matrix style that emulates that of faceted, stained-glass windows.

Construction of the Odeon by dry stone walling professionals and member volunteers begins this summer. Its completion will mark the latest advance in Mission Farm’s vision to be a welcoming presence to all who seek community gatherings and wilderness solitudes.”