Pilgrim Place

Pilgrim Place is a values-driven intentional senior community in Claremont, California — founded in 1915 and built around a shared mission of service, justice, peace, and care of the Earth. We are one of the oldest intentional senior communities in the United States, and the culture today reflects the residents who built it: people who came not to retire from purpose, but to keep contributing to it alongside neighbors who share their commitments.
Many of our 350 adult members spent careers as ministers, missionaries, educators, social workers, scholars, scientists, organizers, and humanitarians, arriving from international and domestic posts. What binds them isn’t a single faith, profession, or tradition — it’s a habit of engagement with the world that doesn’t end at retirement.
The community is governed by residents through Town Meeting, our quarterly assembly that plans communal activities, advises the administration, and represents resident voice on matters of community life. Decision-making structures include resident task forces, councils, and committees that shape programming, environmental stewardship, mutual support, and safety. Our common life is anchored by shared dinners in Abernethy Dining Hall (Independent Living) and Napier Dining Hall (Assisted Living), and by the Residential Health and Support Program — a resident-funded mutual aid system that allows community members to remain in their homes and live with dignity regardless of changing financial or medical circumstances.
Care of the Earth is one of our core commitments. Our 32-acre campus runs on 100% renewable energy, and two resident-tended community gardens with a greenhouse produce up to 25% of the food residents consume, with community compost systems closing the loop.
Inclusion is part of our daily practice. Pilgrim Place is an ecumenical community welcoming residents of every faith tradition and none, and is openly inclusive of LGBTQ+ residents and residents across racial, ethnic, and educational backgrounds.
Distinctive resident-led programming includes Pilgrim Tours (monthly resident-led excursions across Southern California), the Current Affairs Forum (alternating Wednesdays with members of Congress, advocates, and academic experts), the Napier Initiative (intergenerational partnership with the Claremont Colleges), Chorale & Bands, the Pendleton Arts & Crafts Center, and our annual two-day Festival each November — open to the public, in its 78th year in 2026, with proceeds supporting the Residential Health and Support Program.
As a Continuing Care Retirement Community, Pilgrim Place offers a full continuum of care on a single campus — Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, and Skilled Nursing — so residents can stay in the community they’ve built as their needs evolve. Our campus includes 185 Independent Living residences (ranging from 600 to 1,800 square feet), 57 Assisted Living apartments, 12 Memory Care beds, and 62 Skilled Nursing beds with short-term rehabilitation, all on the same campus.
Pilgrim Place was founded in 1915 by the Congregational Church as the Claremont Missionary Home, originally located on what is now the Scripps College campus. In 1924, we moved to our present location, where residents continue shaping a community defined by inclusion, lifelong learning, and a lived commitment to service.