Our Story

Living Waters was a dream of Fr. William Murphy, a Detroit businessman who became a priest at the age of eighty. After coming to North Carolina, Fr. Murphy built a Catholic Church in Sylva, North Carolina prior to the construction of the beautiful St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church on the mountain above the retreat center. He owned a motel and when a fire destroyed the retreat house that he was building, he converted the motel into what is the present retreat center. Living Waters was officially dedicated on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June of 1982 with Bishop Michael J. Begley presiding at the dedication. Fr. Murphy’s dream was that people would come to spend time in prayer in the valley. He wanted them to drink in the beauty of the mountains that so much enthralled him.