Camp meeting
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. Revivals and camp meetings continued to be held by various denominations, and in some areas of the mid-Atlantic, led to the development of seasonal cottages for meetings.
For the album by Bruce Hornsby, see Camp Meeting (album).
Originally camp meetings were held in frontier areas, where people without regular preachers would travel on occasion from a large region to a particular site to camp, pray, sing hymns, and listen to itinerant preachers at the tabernacle. Camp meetings offered community, often singing and other music, sometimes dancing, and diversion from work. The practice was a major component of the Second Great Awakening, an evangelical movement promoted by Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and other preachers in the early 19th century. Certain denominations took the lead in different geographic areas.
As with brush arbor revivals and tent revivals, camp meetings today are often held annually at campgrounds owned by a Christian denomination.[1][2]
Practice by denomination[edit]
Anabaptism[edit]
The Dunkard Brethren Church, a denomination of Conservative Anabaptist Christianity, holds its annual camp meeting at Roxbury Holiness Camp.[19][20]
Disuse and Adaptation[edit]
A number of camp meeting grounds have fallen into disuse or diverged from their original use and ownership. These include Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, founded as a Methodist camp meeting in 1873 and now a beach resort town. Its temperance fountain remains.[33] Old Orchard Beach, Maine, similarly became a seaside resort.[34]