A watercolor painting of a camp meeting circa 1839 (New Bedford Whaling Museum).

The camp meeting is a phenomenon of American frontier Christianity. The movement of thousands of persons to what had previously been trackless wilderness in the 18th century in America had led to something of a religious vacuum. Not only were there few authorized houses of worship, there were even fewer ordained ministers to fill their pulpits. The "camp meeting" was an innovative response to this situation. Word of mouth told that there was to be a religious meeting at a certain location. Due to the primitive means of transportation, if this meeting was to be more than a few miles' distance from those attending, it would necessitate their leaving home for its entire duration, or as long as they desired to remain, and camping out at or near its site, as usually there were neither adequate accommodations or the funds necessary to obtain them. At a large camp meeting, many came from over a large area, some out of sincere religious devotion or interest, others out of curiousity and a desire for a break from the arduous frontier routine, although many in this latter group often became sincere converts as well. Image File history File links Religious_Camp_Meeting_(Burbank_1839). ... Image File history File links Religious_Camp_Meeting_(Burbank_1839). ... Watercolor is a painting technique making use of water-soluble pigments that are either transparent or opaque and are formulated with gum to bond the pigment to the paper. ... 1839 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... This article is becoming very long. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Various Religious symbols, including (first row) Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Bahai, (second row) Islam, tribal, Taoist, Shinto (third row) Buddhism, Sikh, Hindu, Jain Religion is a system of social coherence based on a common group of beliefs or attitudes concerning an object, person, unseen being, or system of thought considered... Worship usually refers to specific acts of religious praise, honour, or devotion, typically directed to a supernatural being such as a god or goddess. ... Ordination is the process in which clergy become authorized by their religious denomination and/or seminary to perform religious rituals and ceremonies. ... In most Protestant churches, a minister is a member of the ordained clergy who leads a congregation or participates in a role in a parachurch ministry; such a person may also be called a Pastor, Preacher, Bishop, Chaplain or Elder. ... Car camping is camping in a tent, but nearby the car for easier access and for supply storage Camping is an outdoor recreational activity, in which the campers get away from civilization and enjoy nature by spending one or more nights at a campsite. ... // United States In the United States, the frontier was the term applied to the zone of unsettled land outside the region of existing settlements of Americans. ...

An engraving of a Methodist camp meeting in 1819 (Library of Congress).

Freed from their daily routines for the duration of the meeting, unlike traditional religious events these meetings could provide their participants with almost continuous services; once one speaker was finished (often after several hours) another would often rise to take his place. These sorts of meetings were huge contributing factors to what became known as the Second Great Awakening. A particularly large and successful one was held at Cane Ridge, Kentucky in 1801, where the Restoration Movement began to be formalized. They gained wide recognition and a substantial increase in popularity in the aftermath of the American Civil War as a result of the first Holiness movement Camp Meeting in Vineland, New Jersey in 1867. Ocean Grove, New Jersey, founded in 1869, has been called the "Queen of the Victorian Methodist Camp Meetings." At the end of the nineteenth century, believers in Spiritualism also established camp meetings throughout the United States. Image File history File links Methodist_camp_meeting_(1819_engraving). ... Image File history File links Methodist_camp_meeting_(1819_engraving). ... Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. ... Methodism or the Methodist movement is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity. ... 1819 common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Second Great Awakening or the Great Revival was the second great religious revival in United States history and consisted of several kinds of activity, distinguished by locale and expression of religious commitment. ... Cane Ridge, Kentucky, was the site, in 1801, of a large camp meeting which drew thousands of people and had a lasting influence as one of the landmark events of the Second Great Awakening. ... The Union Jack, flag of the newly formed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... For information related to dispensational Christian views regarding the end times, see restorationism. ... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Lincoln, President Ulysses S. Grant, General Jefferson Davis, President Robert E. Lee, General Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action... The Holiness movement is composed of people who believe and propagate the belief that the carnal nature of man can be cleansed through faith and by the power of the Holy Spirit if one has had his sins forgiven through faith in Jesus. ... Vineland highlighted in Cumberland County. ... Ocean Grove is a census-designated place located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. ... Spiritualism is a religious movement, prominent from the 1840s to the 1920s, found primarily in English-speaking countries, namely the USA and the UK. The movements distinguishing feature is the belief that the spirits of the dead can be contacted by mediums. ...

The Great Auditorium at Ocean Grove, New Jersey

Camp meetings continued to be conducted for many years on a wide scale and some are still held today, primarily by Pentecostal groups but by some other Protestants as well. The revival meeting is often felt to be a modern-day attempt to recreate the spirit of the frontier camp meeting. Image File history File linksMetadata OGFeb2006_009_(Small3). ... Image File history File linksMetadata OGFeb2006_009_(Small3). ... The Pentecostal movement within Protestant Christianity places special emphasis on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... A revival meeting is a series of Christian religious services held with an eye to encourage active members of a religious body and to provoke those outside of it to become part of it. ...

Literature

• Paul Gillespie and his students (editors), Foxfire 7, Anchor Books, New York 1980, ISBN 0-385-15244-2

• Moore, William D., 1997. "'To Hold Communion with Nature and the Spirit-World:' New England's Spiritualist Camp Meetings, 1865-1910." In Annmarie Adams and Sally MacMurray, eds. Exploring Everyday Landscapes: Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, VII. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 0-8704-9983-1.

• George Rawlyk The Canada Fire: Radical Evangelicalism in British North America, 1775-1812. McGill-Queen's UP, 1994.

External links

• Journal of Methodist itinerant Nathan Bangs (1778–1862) recounting the first camp meeting held in Upper Canada in 1805