Rustic Ridge celebrating 125 summers in Northfield

NORTHFIELD — Vehicles with license plates from Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Texas and Colorado filled the parking lot of the Trinitarian Congregational Church last weekend.

Although the bingo card of plates may seem out of place at first glance in Northfield, the vehicles belong to Rustic Ridge members who spend summers up the hill, like the generations before them.

According to Rustic Ridge member Jeannie Bubriski, Rustic Ridge started with the white tents of ministers, missionaries and other fans who followed Dwight L. Moody, the “charismatic” evangelist speaker from Northfield, for his religious conferences. What started as a flurry of white tents became cottages as the group built summer homes along North Lane above the Thomas Aquinas College campus in 1901.

Although Moody died nine days before 1900, the community continued, as descendants of the first group and new faces traveled from across the country to spend their summers in Northfield.

At Dickinson Memorial Library, visitors can see Rustic Ridge’s history for themselves by leafing through old meeting minutes and financial records in the Local History Room, or by seeing photos, brochures and maps in the gallery.

“They’re a part of the Northfield community,” said Dickinson Memorial Library Director Misha Storm. “We wanted to highlight that part of the community and Northfield’s history.”

This summer marks the 125th anniversary of the group’s founding. To celebrate, about 50 members and curious residents took their seats in the church on Sunday to look back on its beginnings and reflect on the legacy the members keep alive every summer.

“Here we are, and most of us can attest to the fact that [the cottages] have been up for 125 years,” former Rustic Ridge President Margaret Conner said at the 125th anniversary event as the audience chuckled. “There’s always something to do — take a tree down, replace a floor, a ceiling tile falls and there’s something living up there that needs to be taken care of.”

Despite the upkeep, many cottagers said they would not spend their summers any other way.

“I live in Chicago, and when I tell my friends I’m coming here, the first thing they say is, ‘Are you on a lake?’” Conner said. “It’s hard to convince them that no, we’re not, but we love it anyway.”

Through the years, the group has worshipped together and gathered in meetings to make changes that were occasionally met with pushback, like banning outhouses, installing electricity in the cottages in 1940, paving the roads in the 1950s and, early on, passing a resolution declaring the keeping of poultry in the Ridge as a public nuisance.

“Let’s get away from all the Bible study and the meetings they had, and talk about what we like best,” Bubriski said, “and that’s swimming.”

Summers in Rustic Ridge meant making a splash in Wanamaker Lake, the now-closed Northfield Inn pool, and other nearby spots like Laurel Lake in Erving, the Recreation Department’s pool in Vernon, Vermont, and Spofford Lake in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. While Bubriski said some people prefer to just take in the view on the porch swing, many pick between a slew of summer activities, from family reunions to the Fourth of July parade, and nights of ghost stories and arts and crafts.

In a musical break, the crowd joined in on a “Rustic Ridge Rap.” Together, they rhymed through the history of Rustic Ridge, from their grandparents attending Moody’s conferences to the lanterns that lit the path to Rustic Ridge Association meetings, the 1930 hurricane, Old Orchard Trail hikes and rocking chairs swinging 6 feet apart at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In 2026, we are now at 125. A few things have changed except for the vibe,” the crowd rapped. “But the beauty of Northfield is still around. We love Mim’s [Market] and the Creamie and friends that abound.”

Rustic Ridge members then stood up in the pews and swapped stories from past summers, reminding each other of trips to the long-gone bookstore for summer reads and even soda and candy, cold dips in the “cow pond” and “romancing on the Ridge.”

Longtime member Dottie Foster told the story of her parents, who met while summering at the Rustic Ridge and fell in love.

“They went to Guatemala, where they were for 48 years on their honeymoon,” Foster concluded as the audience clapped.

“[Northfield] is a very special place for us,” Conner’s sister, Cena Dwyer, chimed in. “It’s baked into our souls.”

When Dwyer tells people she’s “going to the cottage,” it means she is heading to Rustic Ridge.

“Things are changing,” Dwyer said, “but Northfield always seems to be a constant.”