World Fellowship Center

The World Fellowship Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and retreat/conference center located in Albany, New Hampshire, United States. It is open from late June to approximately Labor Day weekend, with a few workshops and other events taking place before or afterwards. Nestled at the southeastern edge of the White Mountain National Forest, east of Mount Chocorua off Route 16 in Albany, it currently comprises approximately 455 acres (184 ha), including a conference room and dining lodge, nature trail, soccer field, several cabins, campsites and additional lodging facilities, as well as boating and swimming access to a large pond. At capacity it can host over 200 guests and features speakers, groups, organizations, activists and entertainers from around the world.

The name "World Fellowship" is derived from the World Fellowship of Faiths, which was officially established as an organization in 1929. In 1937, well before the outbreak of World War Two, activist, philanthropist, suffragist and feminist Lola Maverick Lloyd propounded the notion of world government, essentially a forerunner to the United Nations, whereby nation-states would be dissolved and there would be one democratically-elected government of all people. Lloyd saw the League of Nations, created in 1918 in the aftermath of World War One, as doomed to fail since it was dominated by the very same war-mongering nations that supported the first World War. It was Lloyd's colleague, Charles Frederick Weller (1870–1957), who had been a speechwriter for Theodore Roosevelt, and Weller's wife Eugenia (née Winston, 1872–1956) Weller, who first conceived the idea of a summer retreat and conference center devoted to peace and social justice issues and causes. In 1940, with most of Europe, Africa, and Asia engulfed in war, the Wellers' adult son died. Not long after, Charles did a two-week long meditation on nearby Mount Whiteface, during which he conceived the notion of creating a more permanent place for the World Fellowship of Faiths. Thus, between 1940 and 1941, the Weller couple selected a 290-acre (120 ha) plot known as the Draper Estate, located in Albany, which was for sale for $3,000. After making a down payment of $500, Weller summoned Lloyd to pay the remaining $2,500. Despite the name "World Fellowship of Faiths", which has at times provoked skepticism and dubiety amongst newcomers, World Fellowship has never been officially aligned or affiliated with any religious denomination. The first official year of operation was 1941, and attendance was recorded at 253 people. The initial slogan adopted was "In a time of war, prepare for peace." The Wellers assumed the position of directorship for twelve summers, from 1941 until 1952. Shortly thereafter, Eugenia died in 1956, and Charles in 1957.

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