1 of 5
The Trappist monks lead visitors from prayers to lunch.
Photo by Mic Smith
2 of 5
While touring the grounds, visitors will find several artistic nativity scenes.
Photo by Mic Smith
3 of 5
Abbot Stan Gumula prepares for mid-morning prayers in the Mepkin Abbey church. Visitors on docent-led tours are invited to witness the moving ritual as the monks chant and sing.
Photo by Mic Smith
4 of 5
The monastery gift shop sells mushrooms grown and harvested by the monks as well as spiritual books and artwork.
Photo by Mic Smith
5 of 5
Self-guided tours of the beautiful garden and grounds are free.
Photo by Mic Smith
Even as they respond to God's call to live a life of solitude and constant prayer, the monks of Mepkin Abbey gladly share their home with thousands of visitors each year.
After all, the brothers heed the call of St. Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism, who instructed his followers to welcome strangers as one would welcome Christ.
Mepkin Abbey’s monastery sits atop a bluff at the confluence of two branches of the Cooper River, in a sheltered spot enveloped by Berkeley County pine forests. The avenue of oak trees at the entrance to this former rice plantation leads to a riverside garden established by publishing icons Henry and Clare Boothe Luce, who purchased the property for a personal retreat in the 1930s.
Many of Mepkin’s visitors are drawn here for the scenery. Before the Luces gave Mepkin to the Roman Catholic Church in 1949, they commissioned landscape architect Loutrell Briggs to design the cathedral-inspired camellia garden that still sits in the ravine below the monastery.
Others who come to Mepkin are spiritual seekers influenced both by its natural wonders and its religious purpose.
“You find God in this beauty,” says Abbot Stan Gumula, the community’s elected spiritual father. Visitors of all beliefs are welcome. “This is a place of prayer, where prayer becomes valid.”
Regular visitors say they feel a sense of peace as soon as they arrive and leave behind the outside world. “Everywhere you go there’s music, there’s noise, there’s activity. To find a place that’s relatively close by, that’s quiet, is a gift,” says Mepkin’s communications director, Mary Jeffcoat.
Some of Mepkin Abbey’s visitors come out of curiosity. Only 17 Trappist monasteries exist in the United States, and while Mepkin’s guests are asked to respect the community’s desire to beset apart, they are also given a window to learn more about this place and way of life.
For the monks, Mepkin is their home. They are spiritually connected here, having limited interaction with the outside world. Nourished by Scripture reading, communal chanting of prayers, and work, they live quietly, with some spoken conversation by day but no talking, other than prayers, from 8 p.m. to 8:30 a.m.
Currently, 15 brothers live at Mepkin full time, some in various stages of the discernment process. It takes at least seven years to become a monk, longtime volunteer Liz Bruno explains to visitors.
Docent-led tours of the monastery avoid the brothers’ personal living area, called the cloister. The 11:30 a.m. tour ends with a chance to attend midday prayers, which are spoken and sung by the monks in the church.
The most popular time to visit is during the Mepkin Abbey Crèche Festival, which began in 2002 as a celebration of Advent and Christmas. The festival starts close to Thanksgiving and allows the monks to share 40–50 nativity sets from their extensive collection and from other collectors.
_____
Mepkin Abbey highlights
- Charleston Nine Memorial. Located in a meadow near the entrance, this memorial offers a ring of stone squares encircled by nine oak trees, each with a marker dedicated to one of the City of Charleston firefighters killed in the 2007 Sofa Super Store blaze.
- Labyrinth. While the circular labyrinth is modest in size, a contemplative walk to the center could take up to an hour when the plants that form the path’s border have grown high enough to prevent shortcuts.
- Nancy Bryan Luce Garden. The canopy of oaks shades a series of terraced rooms that slope down to the river in this garden. Volunteers have worked hard in recent years to restore the garden and the rest of the property to a more manicured state.
- Mepkin Abbey Store. Guests can buy oyster and shitake mushrooms that Mepkin’s monks grow on their farm, as well as foods produced by other monasteries. Spiritual gifts, artwork and books are also available.
- Bell Tower. Located by the church, the Bell Tower is dedicated to the spirits of all those who have lived on, worked and loved the land. The bells ring seven times a day.
- Columbarium. In 2012, Mepkin Abbey established a wall on a hillside by the river with niches for cremated remains. The monks have invited others to consider this as a final resting place of reflection and remembrance.
- St. Francis Retreat Center. Dedicated in 2013, the retreat center allows for overnight guests who stay to further their spiritual development. It includes the Father Francis Kline Memorial Chapel.
_____
Get There
Mepkin Abbey is located in Berkeley County at 1098 Mepkin Abbey Road, Moncks Corner.
Hours: The store/reception center is open 9 a.m.– 4 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday; 1–3 p.m. Sunday. (Closed Mondays.) Monastery tours start at 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday, with the exception of the first Friday of the month. Tours of the gardens are self-guided. Groups of 10 or more should make reservations by calling (843) 761-8509.
Admission: Monastery tours are $5 for adults, free for children and students. Visits to the garden and historic grounds are free.
2014 Creche Festival: Nov. 17–23 and Nov. 28–Dec. 6. On Oct. 3, the monastery will start taking online reservations, which are required.
Details: (843) 761-8509, Mepkin Abbey