Other States
This one in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, had one of the most unusual designs. Instead of circular or rectangular the tents radiate out from the central tabernacle.
Ocean Grove, New Jersey is an example where the town grew up around a Methodist camp meeting. There is a smaller open air tabernacle and tents, but the central structure is the “Great Auditorium,” which now hosts major entertainment acts.
…and that’s about where I ran out of steam. If you want to see the rest of these from above (or, at least, the ones I’ve found), then check out the link to the Google Map. Many of these sites are on the National Register of Historic Places and most of them are still active with annual camp meetings. I didn’t provide links to information about each of these camps, but I might add that to the map when I get a chance. In the meantime a Google search on the name should get you more info.
I don’t plan to try to track down and photograph every single one of these camps. However, I do have them loaded into my GPS so that if I’m near one on a photo ramble I can pop over and explore. Maybe I’ll even get a chance to attend one of the services. We’ll see how that matches up with the camp meeting experiences from my youth.
Fascinating stuff. Strange that this post would appear now. I have a Book on my iPad that I downloaded from the library of Congress talking book program. It is a history of Pentecostalism, and for some reason I started reading it this morning. I have never studied the movements at all, and was fascinated to see its roots in methodism. And I also was fascinated by the effort of the author to trace similar occurrences back through history to the second century or so.
At one point, there was something called I think the fourth fold gospel. It was like four emphases. It was interesting to me to see what was chosen and what was not for emphasis. I suppose that is true in any church organization. I would have thought that discipleship would have been a major emphasis, given the Methodist focus on something very similar.
Right near the Cattle Creek Campground, near Bowman SC, is an old cemetery with at least one grave dating to the Revolutionary War. The original marker is there and i believe someone made a new one with the inscription regarding the guy buried there. He was home on leave but was capture by the Tories and killed. Note: While there is a cemetery on the campground premises, that’s not the one. The really old one is in the woods, not far from the campground as i recall. I believe there are signs directing you to it.
Cool! Im hoping to visit Cattle Creek next time I’m down that way. I’ll see if I can find it.
Oddly enough, I too was a PK in a Pentecostal family. The Church of God Camp Meeting in Wimauma, Florida, used to be known as “The Grandaddy of ‘Em All.” That was especially true when it was an open-air tabernacle (up until around the 1980s). There would be, I suppose, about 5000 people there. Most were inside, but many would sit in their lawn chairs around the tabernacle (there were speakers mounted so they could hear).
Of course, it was the Florida summer, so we always wanted to air condition the place. Then leadership tore it down and built a new one that was air conditioned. Alas, something was lost. I think that, before, only the most fervent folks would attend in the torrid heat. But air conditioning seemed to attract many who likely were not as dedicated. Maybe. In any case, while it’s still wonderful, it is not like it once way.