Bringing The Community Together Through Love & Support of Our Town
Montreat Cottagers
Montreat Cottagers, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation that was formed by Montreaters for the purpose of benefiting the community. Members of Montreat Cottagers are people who love and support Montreat.
Note that Montreat Cottagers is NOT a Home Owners Association (HOA); “No full or part-time residency or property ownership is required”. The only requirement is to be at least 18 years old and to pay your annual dues.
We bring the community together through such activities as publishing the Montreat Cottagers Directory every four years, publishing informative e-newsletters, sponsoring the annual 4th of July BBQ lunch (we participate in the parade as well!), making annual grants to the Mountain Retreat Association, Montreat College, the Town of Montreat and the Presbyterian Heritage Center, presenting a community information program at each annual membership meeting, and advocating for the preservation of Montreat’s wilderness and environment.
Our different activities are presented in more detail below.
Cottager Activities
July 4th Barbeque
The Montreat Cottagers is proud to sponsor the annual BBQ picnic to celebrate the 4th of July. We sell tickets ahead of time at the Montreat Post Office; following the annual July 4th parade through Montreat, we provide box lunches of traditional BBQ and fixins’ for the ticket holders. It’s a wonderful tradition which is well attended by the whole community.
Montreat Adult Summer Club
The Summer Club (not officially affiliated with the Montreat Cottagers but includes a representative on the Cottagers Board of Directors) each year hosts three seminars open to the community on topics from local residents or speaker who have information of interest to Montreaters to share.
They are generally held on three consecutive Wednesdays in July and each presentation is followed by a delectable selection of goodies to allow the attendees to nosh and visit. Topics have ranged from Kitty Fouche’s son and family speaking about their trip aboard a sailboat to Australia to an ex-Secret Service agent’s remembrances of his duty to a talk on the history of river rock in Montreat and Black Mountain. Topics are always interesting!
A covered dish picnic with an entertaining program concludes the club’s summer activities. The Summer Club added sponsorship of the annual lighting of the Montreat Gate during the Christmas season and the Daffodil Party in the Spring.
The Summer Club began in 1911 as the Montreat Women’s Cooperative Association and was the Montreat Women’s Club for many years. The Summer Club is open to all, including men.
Montreat Cottagers Directory
Every four years, a committee updates the Montreat Cottager Directory, which is basically a contact list for Montreat residents. It is strictly for Montreat residents only to be able to contact other residents and has been hugely popular. The last update was in July 2024, so the next edition will be available July 2028. Annual updates will be disseminated to augment the last directory.
If you live in Montreat and your contact information has changed since the July 2024 Directory was issued, please send updated information to 20***********@***il.com and put “changes to contact information” in the subject line of the email. We will make sure it gets into the annual addendum for the next year as well as the 2028 Montreat Cottager Directory.
Annual Meeting
A meeting of the entire group of Montreat Cottagers is held once a year in July. The highlight of the meeting is a series of annual reports given the leaders of Montreat’s major entities: the Mountain Retreat Association, Montreat College, the Presbyterian Heritage Center, and the Town of Montreat. Other meeting topics include reports to the community by various Montreat Cottager committees and other community organizations. The Montreat Cottagers annual board of directors’ election and members’ business meeting also takes place. It’s a wonderful chance for all members to reconnect and for new folks in Montreat to join the group. Membership details are included in the “Memberships” tab writeup.
The next Annual Meeting will be held in July 2026.
Wilderness and Open Space Committee
The Wilderness and Open Space (WOS) Committee is charged with managing the wilderness land that is owned by the cottagers. Currently the property owned by the Cottagers is the Jane Holt Wilderness Area (formally known as the Rocky Knob Wilderness). This 200+ acre property was purchased by the cottagers in 1990 for the purpose of protecting it from development. It is a portion of the ridge between Graybeard Mountain and the Blue Ridge Parkway. This pristine land was placed in a permanent conservation easement with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy to protect it in perpetuity. The WOS committee has historically watched for properties to purchase to put in a conservation easement for the purpose of preserving the wilderness area. The committee meets as needed. For more information, please contact Beth Fountain at bf**********@***il.com.
Become a Member
Click on the “Membership” button below and follow instructions. To join, each person must pay a $25 membership fee. This membership is considered an “individual membership,” and that person can vote in the annual meeting. If two or more persons in the same household wish to join, they will be considered a household membership. The membership fee is $25 and only one member of the household is entitled to vote at the annual meeting. If multiple people in the same household wish to vote, each person must select an individual membership and pay the $25 fee. You must be at least 18 years old to apply for membership.
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