On April 29, 1987, in the wake of an unusually late snow storm, six Sisters set out from Mount Saint Mary's Abbey in Wrentham, Massachusetts to found a new house of Cistercian nuns. Formally founded on May 1, it is the fifth house of Cistercian nuns
in the United States, and the first situated in the South. We are in
the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia.
Occupying 2 small log cabins, already existing on the property, they began living the regular monastic life while work proceeded on the new brick monastery on a nearby hill.The new structure was dedicated on April 29, 1989. In November of 1990 the Sisters began the production of gouda cheese as their main means of self-support.
At present the community has grown to nine sisters.