Men's Retreat at Montgomery Bell

On the first weekend in October, the men of my church gathered in Montgomery Bell State Park for a prayer retreat. Most of the men stayed in the Inn there at the park, but a hand full of men decided to brave it out in the campground.

That particular weekend ended up being very wet and cold. It rained all weekend with evening lows in the lower 40s. All of the sites were saturated and any available wood was soaked, which made it pretty challenging for those camping in tents. I, however, was not camping in a tent. I was camping in my RV - on a nice creek-side site that I had secured a couple of months earlier.

Because it was rainy and cold, I didn't really get out and do much in the park, or take many pictures - which was good, since the focus of the weekend was the prayer meetings. I didn't have the beautiful outdoors as a distraction to what God wanted to accomplish. Once our meetings had concluded that Saturday afternoon, I was able to get in a short hike during a small break in the weather. I didn't want to get my Nikon out in the weather, so all pictures were taken on my iPhone.

Hiking trail through the iron ore pits. Montgomery Bell was one of the Nation's leading Iron producers in the early 1800's. Cannonballs used in the war of 1812 were probably cast here.

Inside a sandstone chapel built to commemorate the founding of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was founded on these grounds in 1810 at the home of Rev. Samuel McAdow. A replica of his home is near by. This chapel was built to commemorate the founding of the denomination.

Dam and spillway at Lake Woodhaven, one of the 3 lakes at Montgomery Bell State Park.