Villedge Road Trip is a journey focused on our heritage as Antiochian Orthodox Christians in America. The group will arrive at camp on Sunday with orientation that evening. We will first visit the Museum at the Heritage & Learning Center to view ancient icons, relics & vestments of St. Raphael of Brooklyn, items of His Eminence Metropolitan Philip, and other items of our church. The team will spend the evening at the Antiochian Village Conference Center to get a good night's sleep before the week's journey.
The first stop on the journey will be a tour of the Gettysburg, PA, historical area. We will visit the site of the historic Battle of Gettysburg in the US Civil War, and other sites in the area.
The next stop will bring us to St. Tikhon's Seminary and Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. The grounds of St. Tikhon's Monastery was consecrated by St. Raphael. It was the first Orthodox monastery in the America. We will attend Divine Liturgy in the morning, and after receive a tour of the grounds and church.
From St. Tikhon's, we will go to Crestwood, NY, to visit St. Vladimir's Seminary. We will spend the night there, and depart early the next morning to head to Brooklyn, NY, to catch the ferry for Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Here we will learn about how many of our ancestors traveled from overseas to immigrate to America. We will end the day with a visit to St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, the mother Cathedral of our Archdiocese, which St. Raphael himself founded in 1895 upon his arrival to America.
The next morning we will head to Englewood, NJ, to visit the Antiochian Archdiocese headquarters. Here we will visit with His Eminence Metropolitan Philip and His Grace Bishop Antoun and other staff members of the Archdiocese. This is certainly a highlight of the trip, to have lunch with His Eminence and spend time with him.
After a wonderful afternoon (and a great home-cooked meal!), we say goodbye to His Eminence and depart for Philadelphia, PA. There we will visit historic sites such as the U.S. Consitition, the Liberty Bell, Valley Forge historic district, and much more.
From Philadelphia, we will head south to our nation's capital, Washington, DC. There we will visit the Capital Building, White House, the National Mall, Lincoln & Jefferson Memorials, and more! After a full day, we head back to the Village Saturday evening. Sunday is our last day together with departures after Divine Liturgy.
Former AV Staff will accompany the campers, supervise, and lead discussions and debriefing sessions throughout the week.