Montreat College is an independent, Christ-centered, liberal arts institution that educates students through intellectual inquiry, spiritual formation, and preparation for calling and career. In 1897 a Congregationalist minister named John C. Collins from New Haven, Connecticut, joined with a number of likeminded associates from other denominations, including evangelist Weston R. Gales, to form the Mountain Retreat Association. “The corporation was not owned by one denomination but it was interdenominational in its makeup without church connection or control. The original Montreat idea has changed, grown and developed into what now is. Its name was derived from the words ‘Mountain Retreat.’”