City of Light, The

City of Light, The

(religion, spiritualism, and occult)

The “City of Light” was the name given in 1903 to what later became the Lily Dale Assembly. When Theodore Alden demanded rent for the use of grounds that had previously been provided free by his late father Willard Alden, the First Spiritualist Society of Laona in New York purchased land for themselves alongside Lake Cassadaga in 1879. Mrs. Amelia Colby named the camp the Cassadaga Lake Free Assembly. In 1903, this name was changed to the City of Light. That name, however, only lasted three years. In 1906, the name was again changed to the Lily Dale Assembly, because of the profusion of water lilies on the lake there.

Sources:

Buckland, Raymond: Buckland’s Book of Spirit Communications. St. Paul: Llewellyn, 2004