Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp

“A speck on the map.” “Blink and you’ll miss it.” “Off the beaten path.” Our destination was Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp, sometimes referred to as “the Psychic Capital of the World.” It’s easy to pass by this quaint little village located off I-4 in the rural countryside. We wandered along back roads, seeming to move further and further away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, before stopping in front of a small wooden sign proclaiming “Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp, established 1874, Closed from dusk until dawn.”

The camp welcomes skeptics, people of other religions, and those who are curious -of which I was all three- but asks that visitors keep an open mind. I purposely avoided reading about Cassadaga before I visited so I would have no illusions.

It’s smaller than I expected-only 57 acres with 55 homes. We step inside the Andrew Jackson Davis Educational Building-home of the Welcome Center, bookstore, and the meeting room- to meet Lori Carter, the Camp PR director. While we wait, I browse through the bookstore, taking in the crystals, hand-crafted jewelry, and other accouterments. Lori arrives and takes us to the meeting room where the Sunday morning Lyceum, Church Service, and Message Service are held.

Notice the door frame around the window in the middle on the second floor.

“Cassadaga celebrated its 125^th birthday in 2019,” Lori says, before explaining the history of the camp. George Colby, a young spiritualist from New York, received a message in a séance that he would one day establish a spiritualist camp. Led by his Native American spirit guide, Seneca, he arrived in Jacksonville, Florida. He took a steamboat to Blue Springs Landing and walked to an area overflowing with “uncommon hills” outside of Deltona. He homesteaded the land for several years before discovering his associates in NYC were interested in creating a winter Spiritualist Camp in Florida. In 1894, the Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp Meeting Association was formed. Mr. Colby promptly deeded 35 acres to the organization. Today, about 100 people call the camp home.

After our history lesson, we step into a small sitting room. Here we find a whiteboard, listing the mediums and healers available for walk-in readings and/are a healing today, along with a thick book containing the names and biographies of the many other mediums residing here. Lori, a certified medium, tells us of the rigorous training required to become a medium at Cassadaga. “It takes 4-to-6 years of intensive study.” Each medium has different gifts. Lori explains her gifts include clairvoyance (seeing), clairsentience (feeling), and claircognizance (knowing without evidence.)

There’s only a few streets-named appropriately with titles like “Mediumship Way,” “Spiritualist Street,” “Séance Circle,” and “Metaphysical Street.” The houses are Victorian-era, some with gingerbread trim, some painted in soothing colors. No one else is on the streets except for the town cat who tags along as we walk. “People purchase the houses,” Lori says, “but the camp owns the land.” We stand in front of one of the houses and gaze at a window located on the second floor. Formerly a door frame, this door allowed spirits to enter and exit during a séance.

We pass several small parks while Lori tells us about vortexes-or points of concentrated psychic energy. The Camp itself is considered a natural vortex. Smaller natural vortices, including in between two trees on the property near the pond, are found throughout the Camp. We finish our tour at the Colby Memorial Temple, which is presently closed for repairs, and peer through the windows.

The Fairy Trail is a quiet spot for meditation.

Both Lori and the cat leave us at this point and we stroll over to Horseshoe Park, the home of the Famous Fairy Trail. This trail contains quiet areas for meditation and continues to evolve as residents and visitors leave new décor along the trail. It’s also the home of one set of the “Wings of the West.” You’ll find 6 paintings of these wings scattered around Volusia County. Created by artist Erica Group, Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp received the 4^th set of wings in 2018. Grab a picture and post it to social media with the hashtag #wingsofthewest.

Our tour has ended in this town “Where Mayberry Meets the Twilight Zone.” I didn’t, as I have since read others did, experience any “eerie feelings,” “feelings of being watched,” or “feelings of oppression.” I found it to be quiet and peaceful. Though there was not much activity the day I visited, the few residents I encountered were friendly and welcoming. The entire town was placed on the National Historic Register in 1991; a rare feat. For anyone who’s interested in history, it’s an interesting slice of Americana and well worth a visit.

What to Know Before You Go:

The Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp presently offers Spirit Night Encounters on Saturday nights at 7:30 PM. This tour lasts approximately 2 hours and includes a walk-through of several energy hot spots where you might find spirit energy in the form of orbs or other manifestations. A digital camera is recommended.

Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp is the oldest continuously operating religious community in the Southeastern United States. History tours are presently only available for groups of five or less and require 2-day advance notification. Tours are held on Thursdays and Saturdays. A fee is charged for both the Spirit Night Encounters and the History Tours.

Though once owned by the camp, the Hotel Cassadaga is now privately owned and not affiliated with the camp. This hotel, erected in the 1920s, retains its Victorian charm and is the home of the only restaurant in town, Sinatra’s Ristorante. Be prepared to step back in time; there’s no televisions included in the rooms. Instead, it is a place to calm your mind and possibly see a ghost or two.

You can find the Camp at 1112 Stevens Street, Cassadaga, Florida.