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15_the_circle) wrote2006-07-12 12:00 pm
camp meeting sites and Live Journal
[OT from cottage renovations]
[moved from a comment thread]
based on a couple of threads, both here and in another journal, I got to wondering about communities in former camp meeting sites and about LJ usage on the part of their current dwellers. the obvious place to look was online, where I found Google references to 38 active and 18 former camp meeting sites. the active locations are as follows:
- Asbury Grove CMA, South Hamilton MA
- Balls Creek CG, Catawba NC
- Bay View, Petoskey MI
- Belsano CMA, Belsano PA
- Bloys Camp Meeting, Jeff Davis County TX
- Brandywine Summit, Chadds Ford PA
- Camp Aldersgate, Scituate RI
- Camp Bethel, Haddam CT
- Camp Sychar, Mt Verson OH
- Cassadaga Sprirtualist Camp, FL
- Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua Lake NY
- Chester Heights, PA
- Craigville, Centerville MA
- Cypress Camp Meeting, Berkeley County SC
- Des Plaines Methodist CG, IL
- Dimock Camp Meeting, PA
- Empire Grove CMA, East Poland ME
- Hedding CMA, Epping NH
- Indian Field CG, Dorchester County SC
- Indian Springs Holiness CMA, Flovila GA
- Lake Creek, Smithton MO
- Landisville Camp Meeting, Lancaster PA
- Malaga Camp, NJ
- Mckenzie's Grove CG, Catawba County NC
- Monteagle Assembly, Monteagle TN
- Motts Grove CG, Terrell NC
- Mt Gretna Camp Meeting, PA
- Oak Bluffs a/k/a Wesleyan Grove, Marthas Vineyard MA
- Ocean Grove CMA, Monmouth NJ
- On-I-Set Wigwam Spiritualist Camp, Wareham MA
- Rhodes Grove, Chambersburg PA
- Rock Springs, Denver NC
- Salem Camp Meeting, Covington GA
- Salem CMA, Salem VA
- Shady Grove, Harleyville SC
- South Seaville, Cape May NJ
- Summit Grove, New Freedom PA
- Tucker's Grove Camp Meeting, Machpelah NC
note: the majority of these were Methodist camp meetings, but the list also includes Adventist, spiritualist and other denominations' camp meetings as well as some locations from the Chautauqua circuit. Washington Grove, like many, was both at one time or another. I did try to filter for camp meetings as opposed to religious summer camps; accordingly some of the in/exclusions may have been rather arbitrary.
and former camp meeting locations where a residential community seems to now exist:
- Defuniak Springs FL
- Emory Grove, Glyndon MD
- Epworth Heights OH
- Franklin Grove, Dixon IL
- Island Heights NJ
- Lake Bluff IL
- Mount Tabor NJ
- Mountain Lake View, MD
- Ocean Grove, Point Lonsdale, Victoria, Australia
- Pacific Grove CA
- Pacific Palisades CA
- Pitman Grove, Pitman NJ
- Rehoboth Beach DE
- Round Lake NY
- Sea Cliff Grove, Sea Cliff NY
- Shelter Island Heights NY
- Washington Grove MD
- Willimantic CMA, Willimantic CT
taking the 18 identified former camp meeting locations and plugging them into LJ's rather lame search function, it returned over a thousand journals as follows:
| Defuniak Springs FL | 22 |
| Glyndon MD | 20 |
| Epworth Heights OH | none |
| Franklin Grove / Dixon IL | 94 |
| Island Heights NJ | 51 |
| Lake Bluff IL | 66 |
| Mount Tabor NJ | 10 |
| Mountain Lake View MD | none |
| Ocean Grove / Point Lonsdale Vic. AU | 6 |
| Pacific Grove CA | 119 |
| Pacific Palisades CA | 405 |
| Pitman Grove / Pitman NJ | none |
| Rehoboth Beach DE | 93 |
| Round Lake NY | 12 |
| Sea Cliff Grove / Sea Cliff NY | 57 |
| Shelter Island Heights NY | 2 |
| Washington Grove MD | 14 |
| Willimantic CT | 132 |
| total: | 1,103 |
of course there are gaps in the data (for instance I couldn't find any reference to Harvey Cedars in NJ) and LJ results are both over- and under-stated (LJ never seems to clean out stale/dead journals, and geographic location is self-reported by its users) but even so there certainly seem to be more of us than I had imagined, at least potentially.
road trip!
that's a lot of places, but I think the actual haj tour need not be as extensive. based on what I've seen so far my picks would be this baker's dozen of camp meeting communities:
current use sites
(I have actually been to Bay View and Monteagle, am not sure why I wrote the other day that I had only been to Oak Bluffs. premature Alzheimer's I guess).
historic sites
from what I've learned I believe the following to have that out-of-time quality that I associate with the Grove:
worth checking out
these ones seem to have potential but I just don't know enough about them, at least not yet:
short of renting a bus it might be interesting to try connect with whoever's online in these places.
Re: road trip!
Ocean Grove is definitely worth a visit. There are a lot of stunning houses to be seen and there's even a small business district. I've never seen the tents in the summer when they're in use, but I have seen their platforms and the boxes that form the rear room of the tent and then hold everything in the off-season.
There's also the added benefit of walking down the beach a bit and seeing the abandoned casino and convention hall in neighboring Asbury Park.