Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 23
JASON HINELY
Carroll County resident. Her grandparents, Charles and
Mae Upchurch, were the caretakers of Shiloh's dining
hall, and as a child she spent many hours with family at
the 24-acre camp.
"They tell me that I went to my first camp meeting at 5 months old, and I've never missed one since,"
Windom says. "Growing up, we lived only a mile from
the camp, and I can remember when I was 5 or 6 how
much I already wanted to be old enough to stay overnight and be part of the youth and adult services. This
summer will be my 69th consecutive camp meeting."
Family ties run deep. Laura Sparks, communications
coordinator with North Georgia Electric Membership
Corp. in Dalton, has attended camp meetings all her life.
Her father, Bob Ramsey, was a former pastor at Shiloh,
and both her parents are buried in Shiloh Cemetery.
When Shiloh celebrated its 150th anniversary last year, a
time capsule was installed on the grounds.
"That time capsule is buried in the footing of the
'preacher's tent,' a cabin that my family used," Sparks
says. "Shiloh is like home to me."
Top right: Oral tradition holds that the Effingham County United
Methodist Camp Meeting was first held in 1790 at a site 4 miles
north of its current location. The present-day tabernacle was built
between 1905 and 1910 in Springfield. Middle right: Campers decked
out in their Sunday best attend Effingham County Camp Meeting
in the summer of 1906. Bottom right: Salem Campground's historic
tabernacle still features wood shavings on the floor, just as when it
was built in 1854.
May 2017
JONATHAN ANDERSEN
Camp meetings began simply. Area Christians would
come together once a year for a week or more of evangelism, fellowship, singing and prayer.
"They'd literally move the family to the campgrounds for the week," says Stuart Exley, trustee and
longtime member of Springfield United Methodist
Church, one of several congregations that organize the
annual camp meeting at Effingham County Campground
in Springfield. "They'd bring [live] chickens that would
be their supper later in the week, livestock and everything else they needed, because, after all, there weren't
any Walmarts back then."
A rustic, open-air brush arbor, built of poles with a
roof of branches, was typically the focal point of the services. Some campgrounds could seat up to 600. Families
pitched their tents on the grounds, usually in a rectangle
or semi-circle around the brush arbor, which was also
called the tabernacle.
Over the years, those family tents became makeshift
cabins or bungalows, still occupied by subsequent generations of families. Other buildings went up, including,
in some cases, dining halls, pavilions and even boys' and
girls' dormitories for youth camp.
COURTESY EFFINGHAM COUNTY CAMPGROUND
Camp meeting through the years
More online at www.georgiamagazine.org
23
http://www.georgiamagazine.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - May 2017
Contents
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - Intro
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - Cover1
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - Cover2
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 3
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - Contents
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 5
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 6
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 7
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 8
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 9
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 10
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 11
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 12
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 13
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 14
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 15
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 16
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 17
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 18
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 19
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 20
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 21
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 22
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 23
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 24
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 25
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 25A
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 25B
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 26
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 27
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 28
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 29
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 30
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 31
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 32
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 33
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 34
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 35
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 36
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 36A
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 36B
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 37
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 38
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 38A
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - 38B
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - Cover3
Georgia Magazine - May 2017 - Cover4
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