A Writing Place Retreat: It's Not on Any Map -Program

With Dr. Robbie Pinter and Tambi Brown Swiney

February 5 - 7, 2027

Date and Time Details: Check in begins at 3pm on the first day and the program concludes by 11am on the last day

Location: St. Mary's Sewanee: The Ayres Center for Spiritual Development

Address: 770 St Marys Ln, Sewanee, TN 37375, USA

Contact: The Reservations Team - Heather, Sophie, Mary Beth
Reservations@stmaryssewanee.org
931-598-5342

Scholarships: Did you know we offer scholarships? If interested in applying, please click here

  • Anna House Motel Style Room – $659.43
  • Anna House Motel Style Room – $574.43
  • Commuter – $394.43

A Writing Place Retreat: It’s Not on Any Map

“It is not on any map. True places never are.” ~ Melville, Herman, Moby-Dick; or, The Wahle, Harper & Brothers, 1851, ch. 12

Places have a way of holding our stories. A childhood home, a favorite path, a garden, a riverbank, a church, or a quiet room can become more than a physical location. These places carry our memories, shape our imagination, and often reveal something deeper about who we are and how we experience the Holy.

Join us at St. Mary’s Sewanee for a retreat on Writing Place, a time to slow down, pay attention, and listen to the places that have formed us. Through reflective writing, poetry, guided prompts, and time for contemplation, we will explore how writing about place opens us to memory, longing, gratitude, and belonging.

Writing about place is an invitation to notice the sacred hidden in the ordinary—to see how landscapes, communities, and the places we call home have shaped us and our stories.

Whether you are an experienced writer or someone simply curious about putting words on a page, this retreat offers a welcoming space to reflect, create, and reconnect with the places that have shaped you.

Retreat leaders, Dr. Robbie Pinter & Tambi Brown Swiney will guide participants on this jouney to “A Writing Place: It’s Not on Any Map“.

About the Leaders

Dr. Robbie Pinter

Dr. Robbie Pinter serves on the Board of St. Mary’s Sewanee. She taught English at Belmont University for forty years.  She now enjoys what was once her “career within a career,” offering Spiritual Direction, retreats, and Centering Prayer groups.  She is also a supervisor for those offering Spiritual Direction. After a nudge to dwell more […]

Learn more about Dr. Robbie Pinter

Tambi Brown Swiney

Tambi Brown Swiney is an ordained Baptist minister and writer who lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina. She has pastoral experience serving in both congregational and community contexts. She is a spiritual director and retreat leader.

Learn more about Tambi Brown Swiney

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