Holy Mountain Franciscan Retreat Center

At the top of the mountain, Holy Mountain Retreat Center is ideal for larger groups seeking a modern, spacious environment with multiple amenities.

Welcome to Graymoor! Nestled in the Hudson Valley, our vast and expansive grounds have offered spiritual refuge and healing for more than 125 years. We invite you to click on each location below to read and listen about our rich history and enjoy stories behind various chapels, shrines, statues, and buildings. Whether you’re here for prayer, reflection, or exploration, may this journey through Graymoor deepen your sense of connection — to God, others, and the world.

Standing tall on Graymoor’s 700-foot summit is Holy Spirit Chapel. In the summer of 1919, the cornerstone was laid for a two-story water tower, and the bottom of that water tower contained a chapel dedicated to the Holy Spirit, called, at the time, Holy Ghost Tower. The water tower itself was constructed by Graymoor’s favorite mason, Joe Schmidt of Bavaria. A homeless man from St. Christopher’s Inn, Schmidt built many of Graymoor’s shrines and walls. Three magnificent stained glass windows celebrate Pentecost. Icons of St. Nicholas, the wonder worker, decorate the rear of the chapel. The front door of the chapel is marked with a three-bar cross of the Eastern Rite. After Vatican II the name of the chapel was changed from Holy Ghost Chapel to Holy Spirit Chapel. Although sometimes referred to as Graymoor’s Byzantine chapel, Holy Spirit Chapel retains all of its Roman Rite symbolic art and stained glass windows. Hence it’s neither totally Eastern nor Roman.