After transportation improved and as the country became more thickly populated, churches were built. Rural Piney Woods churches were simple structures. Boykin Methodist Church (Fig. 28) near Burns and Piney Grove Church at Polkville are typical examples. The pioneer church building was rectangular, made of rough sawn pine, with pine shutters at the windows and home-made benches fronting toward the home-made pulpit. There was no ceiling, with the room rising to exposed hand-hewn rafters. Often there were two front doors, one for the men and one for the women, and one rear door. On the grounds of Piney Grove, one can still see the long stretch of tables which were built for “protracted meetings” which took the place of camp meetings. Instead of camping out, the people attended services during the day and went home for the night. There was always “dinner on the ground” at the protracted meeting.