Sam Ashelman, owner of Coolfont, is a former consultant for the State Department as well as various American-based foundations. He has lived and worked in a total of 20 countries, offering advice to high-level government officials along the way. He has sat at the Dalai Lama’s feet and worked under the Shah of Iran, the president of Zambia, and a minister of India.

Ashelman’s travels were not without their perils. He once came close to being deported from Uganda, suspected of attempts to organize a revolution. A trip to South Africa to protest the country’s racial policies turned desperate when South African officials refused to let the plane of protesters land. Short of fuel but with no choice but to return whence they came, Ashelman and his friends came within 50 feet of running out of gas before landing safely. “I had reconciled that we were going to crash,” Ashelman said of his close call. “But at least it was for a good cause.”

Finally, the increasing uncertainty of living abroad became something Ashelman, who has five children, including Peter ’62, could no longer ignore. “Working in the Middle East and Africa just became too dangerous,” he said. So when Ashelman fell in love with a stately manor house (ca. 1912) and the surrounding land during a West Virginia camping trip, he “made a ridiculous offer of half of what they were asking.” It was accepted, and, in 1977, the resort incorporated as “Coolfont RE+Creation” was born.

“This is not a recreation place. It’s a RE+Creation place for health and stress relief,” Ashelman explained. “We hope that when people leave, they will be re-created.” To accomplish this goal, Coolfont has become a center of health and wellness. One of the largest massage centers on the East Coast, Coolfont is, according to Ashelman, a place where tired and stressed individuals come to heal by immersing themselves in the beautiful natural surroundings. There, they can soak in a Jacuzzi; hike through the wilderness; opt for a spa treatment; or enjoy the drama, dance, and musical performances the resort’s Coolfont Foundation has hosted for 33 years.

More than a simple spa resort, Coolfont has come to stand as a center for social, environmental, and international justice in the midst of a West Virginia wilderness. Ashelman, the man who counts such diverse locales as Switzerland, Nepal, and Sri Lanka among his favorite destinations, has not forgotten his past as a global advocate for social change. Instead, he has brought it with him.

“We’ve always tried to attract good people here—people with idealism and people who want to build a different kind of place for human beings,” Ashelman said. A center for environmental preservation, Coolfont developed a state-of-the-art sewage system that requires absolutely no energy input. Ashelman is hoping that Coolfont, which also has a solar-heated swimming pool and a large organic garden, can serve as an oasis in a country he feels has done poorly by the environment. “What we’re doing in the United States is terrible—we’re building mountains of trash,” Ashelman said.

Ashelman, who has no plans to retire, dreams of the day when Coolfont will be known as “an international thinking and problem center.” The resort recently hosted diplomats from three different areas of Bosnia, and Ashelman said the three groups left West Virginia with a greater understanding of one another.

“I have always had this concern about working toward a better world,” Ashelman said. “Coolfont is just an expression of that.”

—Elizabeth Redden ’05