Page 14 - Demo

The camp%u2019s Chesterfield Spiritualist College has a national reputation for educating, training, and developing mediums, and is respected by students of Spiritualism, New Age Spirituality, and Metaphysics. It offers two primary areas of concentration: the development of a student%u2019s psychic abilities leading to becoming a Certified Medium or an ordained Spiritualist Minister, and study leading to various Metaphysics%u2019 certificates. With a long list of more than 70 required and elective courses, it is one of only a few such organizations with a formal certification process. There are approximately 50 cabins on the camp%u2019s grounds, and usually more than 20 on-site residents who are certified mediums, clairvoyants, development teachers, or healers. Some offer services in such wide ranging fields as Tarot, spirit art, palmistry, astrology, runes, reflexology, Tai Chi, Reiki, or trance. Year-round residents have included a Methodist minister, an Episcopalian priest, a Jewish mystic, a Buddhist, a Catholic nun, a Native American, and a practicing Pagan.The cabins themselves are rather a hodgepodge, although they are well-maintained. Most were built decades ago as tiny shanties or cracker-boxes, often with only two rooms and a separate outdoor privy. But today it%u2019s impossible to know what they originally looked like or where they stood. This is because a room from one would be moved and grafted onto another, or a porch, or perhaps a stable, would show up as a room addition elsewhere. The floor in one current cabin has three different levels, due to being assembled from three different structures. At one time, the movement of portions of buildings was described as a %u201cveritable parade%u201d from one side of the camp to the other.In order to reside in one of the camp%u2019s cabins, a person must be a member in good standing of the Indiana Association of Spiritualists (which operates Camp Chesterfield) and be approved by its Board of Trustees. It is preferred that each resident be a medium, or offer a service such teaching classes or assisting in running the camp. To become a working medium on site, or to offer classes, a person must demonstrate proficiency and obtain board approval. While the association retains ownership of the ground on which the cabins are built, the board grants 99-year leases to members. Leaseholders can buy and sell the cabins themselves. As with many religious denominations, a decline in membership and monetary donations began in the later part of the 20th century. There were also fewer students at the seminary. However, that trend is slowly reversing, with attendance again rising, along with more students working to become mediums. Importantly, all the camp%u2019s 65 buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. Included were vernacular (everyday) cottages, and more substantial Art Deco buildings, mid-century modern structures, as well as spiritual statuary. Then in 2013, the Friends of Camp Chesterfield Foundation was established as a non-profit organization to restore, renew, preserve, protect, and maintain the historic grounds and buildings for future generations.