Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp

The Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp is a registered U.S. historic district comprising the original 35-acre community founded in 1894. About 55 houses and buildings make up the camp, and several dozen certified mediums and healers live and work here year-round. The community is autonomous and self-governing, with its own rules for medium certification that require a minimum four-year training and certification process.

Walking through the camp is a peculiar experience. The wooden houses with their posted signs — "Certified Medium: Readings by Appointment" — are interspersed with more ordinary residences, a bookshop, a community hall, and gardens under the Spanish moss. Readings can be booked by walking up and knocking on a door with a sign; sessions typically run 30-45 minutes. Whether you find it atmospheric or absurd likely says more about you than about the mediums.

things to do sight
A story
George Colby, a medium from upstate New York, claimed that a Native American spirit guide named Seneca directed him southward to the site on the shores of Lake Colby in 1875. He arrived sick with tuberculosis and recovered after settling here, which he attributed to the land's spiritual properties. He donated the 35-acre parcel to the Spiritualist movement and spent the rest of his life here, never charging for readings.