Where the Pines Still Speak: Gilmont Camp & Conference Center

For more than eight decades, a hidden gem in the East Texas piney woods has been offering sanctuary, community, and renewal to all who find their way there.

Drive north from Interstate 20 on State Highway 155 and the landscape shifts. Strip malls and traffic give way to tall pines, and the air seems to slow down with them. About 25 miles north of Longview, a modest entrance marks the turn to Gilmont Camp & Conference Center — 400 acres of East Texas forest that has been quietly shaping lives since 1940.

Gilmont invites visitors to the timeless and uncomplicated beauty of the forest — to hike a trail or fish in a pond, to stargaze or watch the sky for birds, to just pause and be invited into the healing and nurturing power of creation. For the thousands of campers, retreatants, and conference-goers who have passed through its gates across the decades, that invitation is less a marketing slogan than a lived experience.

From Sawmill to Sacred Ground

The land itself carries deep history. For thousands of years, people held an intimate connection with this land — the Caddo and Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo) people were the first to gather here, listen to the stories of creation, trade, and find healing among the pines. In recognition of that heritage, Gilmont has named its arts and crafts space Caddo Hall. By the early twentieth century, the land had become a working sawmill — and a pond on the property still bears the name “Mill Pond” in memory of the workers who used the water to cool their equipment.

In 1940, a small group of East Texas Presbyterian church leaders transformed the abandoned sawmill into the 400 acres of holy ground we know as Gilmont. Those early years were humble. Campers stayed in primitive structures called hogans and gathered for meals at what would become Mackey Hall, named after one of the founders whose family remains involved in Gilmont’s leadership to this day. For its first half-century, Gilmont was intentionally kept as something of a well-kept secret among area Presbyterian churches, serving as a place for picnics, leadership retreats, and summer camps.

In the early 1990s, Gilmont took on a new identity as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, opening its doors more broadly to new ministry partners, denominations, and the surrounding community. The transformation was substantial. Circle of Friends Camps were begun to celebrate and assist families of children with special needs. Outdoor School programs were introduced to connect students with the natural world. Adult retreats for faith formation were started. A specialty camp called the Great Gluten Escape even created a safe space for campers with celiac disease or gluten intolerance — something Gilmont takes seriously as a certified Gluten Free Food Service Facility.

A Place for Everyone

Today, Gilmont operates year-round and wears many hats. The center specializes in retreats, summer overnight camps, and outdoor school programming, offering women’s and men’s retreats, retreats for families with special needs, spiritual practices and silent retreats, and outdoor school for public and private schools.

Summer camp remains the heart of the ministry. Classic overnight camp options, specialty camps, and family camps fill the calendar, with on-site activities including swimming, canoeing, paddle-boarding, archery, axe throwing, crate stacking, ziplines, hiking, low ropes team-building, nature exploration, crafts, games, and more. The retreat calendar is equally varied, ranging from a Women’s Retreat focused on experiencing God’s nearness through leisure and creativity, to a Silent Retreat for those seeking a quieter kind of renewal, to youth gatherings and young adult weekends.

The camp is filled with six modern and rustic cabins, 20 lodge rooms, a large retreat center, meeting spaces, and opportunities to participate in a wide range of activities — allowing Gilmont to host groups of all sizes from 20 to over 160.

The Facilities

The crown jewel for conferences and large gatherings is the B.W. Crain, Jr. Conference Center. The Crain Center features multi-media capability, wi-fi internet, and spaces for diversified programming, with a large auditorium that seats 200 and capacity for 100 in breakout rooms. It is suited equally for corporate retreats, denominational gatherings, staff development events, or community meetings.

For overnight guests, options range from the rustic to the comfortable. Lodge rooms offer modern overnight accommodations with double-occupancy private rooms, each with a private bath. The six log-cabin-styled cabins are named after trees found in the surrounding area, and two of the cabins are handicap accessible.

Then there is the food. The food service staff takes pride in preparing fresh, hand-made, home-style meals and is happy to accommodate special diets including gluten-free, dairy-free, diabetic, vegetarian, and nut allergy needs. Guests frequently name the dining experience as one of the highlights of their stay.

Roots and a Growing Vision

A covenant with Grace Presbytery was re-established and strengthened as Jennifer and Rev. Kenny Rigoulot were called as Co-Executive Directors in 2021, ushering in a new chapter for the organization. A strategic plan and a capital campaign called “Strengthening Roots, Stretching Branches” now guide Gilmont’s next season of growth — investments in facilities and programming that aim to serve an even wider circle of the community.

Gilmont’s mission is to be a safe, sacred space where all are invited to grow closer to God, creation, others, and themselves — a statement that has guided the center across more than eight decades, through sawmill ruins and summer storms, through fires that once destroyed a welcome center and the community that came together to rebuild it.

For East Texans, Gilmont is the kind of place that tends to get into people. Children come as campers and return as counselors. Families discover it on a church retreat and book it for their reunion the following year. Schools send students for outdoor education and watch something shift in them over a few days among the pines.

Gilmont has been providing space for amazing experiences, activities, and events for youth, college students, adults, and families since 1940. The forest, it turns out, has a long memory — and it keeps making room for more.

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Gilmont Camp & Conference Center is located at 6075 State Highway 155 N, Gilmer, TX 75644. For information about camps, retreats, or facility rentals, call (903) 797-6400 or visit gilmont.org.

Claude