Serving a special function were the campgrounds where Protestant religious meetings were held once or twice a year, usually during “laying-by” time. The early camp meetings were held in an arbor-like shelter constructed of oak posts with V-tops forming a frame for horizontal poles that were then covered with leafy branches. This shelter was called the tabernacle. Rough plank seats were constructed by laying long planks on supports held up by stakes driven in the ground. The dirt floor was covered with pine straw or sawdust to keep the dust down and the pulpit was made of rough planks. Smaller shelters called tents where the people camped out were built around the tabernacle and furnished with pine plank or pole beds and tables, straw and shuck mattresses. Later more substantial campgrounds, such as present-day Salem Church campground, were built with a permanent tabernacle and sturdy cabins. The Salem Campground on the Jackson-George County line is the oldest extant campground in the state (Fig. 27). The first camp meeting at Salem was held in 1826 and the present site was selected in 1842. The campground today is still arranged in the original U-shape, but the materials of the buildings have been replaced. The tabernacle is built of rough lumber, with three sides open and log posts supporting the roof. The floor, covered with pine straw, holds wooden benches which can seat 300 people. The cabins which surround the tabernacle are still traditionally known as “tents.” Each cabin has two rooms, one for sleeping, one for eating, cooking, or sitting, and the floors are covered with pine straw. A wooden bench adorns each front porch. The oldest tent on the campground is the Parker tent built around 1880. Meetings have been held every year at Salem Campground since 1826 except for two years during the Civil War. |