Friends House Retirement Community does not fit the description of most retirement communities where people daze away their lives in sun-drenched idleness.  It offers a pleasant and stimulating environment where freedom, security and friendship are combined in a most unusual way.   The atmosphere is a blend of the neighborliness of a small town, the comradeship of a college campus, and the delights of a vacation in a beautiful rural setting.

    Friends House Retirement Community became a reality in 1967, after more than twenty years of hope and planning by a small group of Quakers in the Washington area.  Initially, a 100 unit apartment program for low and moderate income persons was made possible by a long term low interest loan from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  Small studio and one bedroom units with dining and public areas were constructed.

    A skilled nursing home facility was soon constructed to which has been added an assisted living facility and a special dementia care unit. Today Friends Nursing Home ministers to over 104 elders.

    It soon became evident that some persons (both Quaker and non-Quaker) with incomes larger than those allowed by HUD regulations, or interested in larger accommodations, desired to share the pleasures of living in the Friends House Retirement Community.  The Board, appointed by the Baltimore Yearly Meeting, approved, on an individual basis, the construction of cottages not under the HUD restrictions.  Over the years 32 units have been built, the latest in 1992.