Camp meetings are annual events hosted by churches to bring community and faith together for a week-long series of Protestant worship. There are several theories on how this practice started, but one of the most widely supported beliefs is that these meetings emulated Scottish and English events celebrating communion season, a weeklong holy fair that would end with the Lord’s supper.
The practice of camp meetings is similar to tent revivals, but attendees would stay on-site for the week. Camp meetings occur throughout the United States, but most of them happen in the South. Their purpose was often to provide a place and time to worship for people who lived in areas without easy access to a church. It was also about building community. Claudia Delviney (2002) states, “The camp meeting provided a place to affirm one’s humanity, and to find meaning and order in the turmoil of pioneer existence. The Christian gospel preached at these revivals celebrated the worthiness of the individual soul amidst an environment that threatened human worth” (p. 27).
Camp meeting sites are an important example of vernacular architecture and “town” planning because they show the importance of building lodges close together, providing porches for neighborly discussions, and a central gathering place for attendees to gather. These architectural highlights can be seen in religious campgrounds around the South.
The Loudsville Campgrounds are across from the Loudsville United Methodist Church in White County, Georgia. White County has four of the state’s extant camp meeting sites. Since 1838, families have gathered for the annual camp meeting in Loudsville. Except during the Civil War, the Louisville Campmeeting happened every year. Before the Civil War, families would bring the people they enslaved with them, and they would participate separately from the white families in an area set aside for them to participate.
Like many campgrounds, these meeting sites evolved from brush arbors to tents to wooden or metal buildings. The Louisville site illustrates the evolution of these structures from more rudimentary one-story buildings to two-story buildings that often include porches. According to the Loudsville Campmeeting website, there are over 73 “tents” with the plan to add more. Their annual meeting happens every July.
References:
Deviney, C. (2002). From spirit to structure: A study of Georgia’s Historic Camp Meeting Grounds [Master’s Thesis, University of Georgia]. https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/deviney_claudia_h_200212_mhp.pdf
Glover, P. (n.d.). History of Loudsville Campmeeting. Loudsville Campmeeting. Retrieved July 21, 2024, from https://www.loudsvillecampmeeting.com/ldvlhist.htm