Mt. Paul Monastery

This small mountaintop monastery was established in 1924. The order of Paulists paid $50,000 for 1200 acres of land in the Oak Ridge section of Jefferson. They constructed a small seminary building with a chapel alongside the twelve acre pond on the property. 

The small structure wouldn't last for long. A 30,000sf building was constructed around 1960 with a chapel, gymnasium, and dormitory space next to the original building. The old structure was subsequently demolished.

By 1997 the seminary was closed, but the building continued to be used as a retreat, similar to the St. Paul Monastery in nearby Newton.

Citing roughly $200,000 in yearly upkeep expenses, the Paulists planned to close the retreat at Mt. Paul in 2009. The land was sold to the state for $12 million, which was paid out of the NJ Open Space Trust. The bodies were moved from the cemetary on the property to a nearby catholic cemetary. By June of the following year, the Paulists officially left the property.

For nearly a decade the building remained mostly vacant. When we visited the structure it still had running water and lights on even though the building was completely unattended. There were several smashed windows and other signs that people had been aware that the building was left with no security in the middle of the woods. 

Thankfully before the damage got too bad, Kean University stepped in and purchased 40 acres of the property. They renovated the main building while demolishing the caretakers home from the 1920s. The campus is now called "Kean Skylands", and offers a number of unique amenities that honor the character of the land. Hopefully the building will survive under their stewardship for many more decades to come.