The New England Conference of the United Methodist Church has transferred ownership of the former Covenant Hills camp property in Cabot and Peacham to an Abenaki organization in what church leaders describe as an act of reconciliation and land restitution.

The 270.5-acre property and its buildings were officially deeded June 26 to Abenaki Helping Abenaki (AHA), a nonprofit led by the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation. A public ceremony marking the transfer was held the following day at the camp’s lakeside chapel.

Announcing the transfer on the New England Conference website,  church officials said the transfer is the first land restitution project undertaken by the New England Conference since adopting a 2023 policy directing leaders to consider land restitution when disposing of church property.

“May this transfer stand as a sign of the church’s ongoing work of reconciliation and as a testament to our belief that faithful discipleship should always lead us down the road of justice, humility and peace,” Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton said during the ceremony.

John Schuyler, chair of the Covenant Hills Board of Managers and a former camper, reflected on the camp’s decades-long ministry while acknowledging the emotions surrounding its closure.

“While we celebrate with the Abenaki in joy of their experience of returning home, our work here as a ministry is now done,” Schuyler said. “While I sincerely rejoice in the fact of transferring the land back, I also clearly recognize the grief that comes to those who now leave this place.”

Chief Don Stevens, leader of the Nulhegan Band and executive director of AHA, said the property will remain a place of learning, healing and community.

Plans include Abenaki language and cultural education programs, traditional crafts such as drum making, relocating the organization’s food distribution program, which currently serves about 700 people each month, and eventually restoring the site as a children’s camp.

“Your hearts and generosity have opened the door to future generations of Abenaki children to occupy this special place,” Stevens said. “A place for our children to laugh and play while learning their culture.”

Covenant Hills opened in 1989 as a joint ministry of the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ after the Troy Conference purchased the land in 1987. The camping ministry ended in 2015, and the property was later used for retreats, rentals and, following the devastating floods of 2023 and 2024, as a staging area for disaster recovery volunteers assisting communities in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

The transfer was approved by delegates to the 2024 New England Annual Conference following a year-long visioning process that concluded the church had a “spiritual and moral imperative” to pursue repentance, reconciliation and the return of land to the Abenaki people.