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History

Salem Camp Meeting was founded in 1828 and is one of the oldest existing, thriving camp meetings in the nation. Salem is a place of peace where worship, reunion, and spiritual renewal can be found. Families and friends return annually to stay for the week and participate in a variety of activities for children, young people and adults. The Camp Ground has camper hook ups and a hotel with private baths, a nostalgic wrap around porch with rocking chairs and home style cooking.



Family Dining at the Hotel

The camp meeting, originating in Kentucky in 1800, is a distinctly American contribution to the history of Protestantism. Salem, one of the South's oldest camp meetings, has been held every year since 1828, except the years of the War Between the States.

In pioneer days, after the crops were "laid by" , families in several surrounding counties packed a week's provisions in the wagon, tied on the cow and headed to Salem for their one vacation of the year. These people came for the serious purpose of seeking salvation.

Awakened at dawn by a trumpeter, they attended four services a day. At first there was simply a cleared space with a stage lit by bonfire and logs for benches. In 1854, the present tabernacle was built.



"Tents" at Salem Camp Meeting

Campers originally slept in or under their wagons and some used wagon sheets as tents. The wealthier families built rough shanties with dirt floors and slept on wooden frames covered with straw. Well into the twentieth century each family brought their cows and chickens and servants cooked on wood stoves and carried water in buckets. The big news of 1939 was the installation of electric lights and plumbing.

For 100 years Salem was a Methodist institution, although never officially part of the Church. Now interdenominational Salem features a Methodist preacher each year and one Baptist or Presbyterian on alternating years.

Photographs of many of Salem's outstanding preachers are on display in the hotel lobby. In the 1930's and 1940's the Salvation Army had an active role in preaching and the music program. Also during those years, there was a great July 4th sermon which drew as many as 10,000 people.

The tabernacle at Salem is on the National Building Survey of the Library of Congress as one of America's historic buildings. It still features wood shavings on the floor. The entire Campground was put on the National Historic Register in 1998.