Tanner Tent

Established: 1976 by Dr. and Mrs. Terrell Benson Tanner
Email: [email protected]

History The Terrell Tanner family moved from Gatlinburg, Tennessee to Oxford, Georgia in August,1975. If memory serves me correctly, we were introduced immediately to Salem Campmeeting by Suzanne Eady (whose husband, the late Virgil Eady, Sr., had been the dean of Oxford College when Terrell was a student there) and by other Salem attendees from Oxford, including the dean of the college at that time, Dr. Bond Fleming, and his wife, Mary Louise, as well as Sam and Becky Ramsey from Covington. I think we went out to the campground one night the very next week after moving into Orna Villa. We had four children: Bill, Sarah, Ben, and John,as well as two foster sons: Michael and Todd Whitesides (who lived with us a number of years before moving back to Tennessee). We were intrigued with the Tabernacle and all the tents and were fascinated to learn that Alexander Means who had owned and added onto our Oxford house had preached at Salem before the Civil War and after, during the years he lived in Oxford. Another Salem preacher had been Terrell's uncle, Dr. Charles Allen, long-time minister at Grace United Methodist in Atlanta. Terrell himself had attended services at Salem when he sang with the Oxford Glee Club there in the early 50's.

In 1976 we were overjoyed to be able to take over the up-keep of half of the building next to the hotel which had previously been owned by a church in Atlanta, but had sat unused for years. (The Harold Ingle family from Conyers moved into the "other half" next door and immediately became treasured friends along with their son Wayne, his wife Carol, and their two children, Chris and Caroline. We appreciated their witness to us--and we grieved when Harold passed away. When Francis later married a retired, widowed minister, Stanley Chealey, we were glad she had someone again with whom to share her life and Salem). The "old Druid Hills tent" consisted of a common meeting room (which was now split in two with a wall to divide the Tanner side from the Ingle side), a small bedroom on each side (which had been for counselors when youth groups had retreats,etc., and a large bunk room on each side, one for boys, one for girls. Each side had a number of old iron army bunk beds, some of which are still in use today. Both the Tanners and the Ingles use a portion of the larger rooms for kitchen and dining space. Our children and their cousins and friends kept our tent very lively for many years and they all received their share of ribbons and Bibles, for we pretty much insisted that they attend EVERYTHING, even both services each day. It was such a special week that I don't think they had to be prodded by us to attend, but did so because it was meaningful to them--and much fun. (Of course as they became teens and had jobs, etc. the gold and blue ribbons became memories of days past.) Now in the 21st century the dear tent is much quieter- with usually just "Pop and Baboo" staying the week with an occasional relative staying overnight. Children visiting with us this year were our sons, Bill and John, and John's wife Marcie. In recent years extended family and friends drift in and out and join us for dinner at the hotel and the morning or night time services as they can. Some of the grandchildren (Hannah from Kentucky, and Abby and Josh from Tallulah Falls) have stayed in the tent, attending classes, etc. in the past, but living out of town and growing into the teen years has made their time here limited. We are hoping that our youngest grandson Gideon Costley Tanner (Ben and Kristin's son) will at some point decide to "camp" with us here. He will be two on Nov. 27, 2004 and lives in Sautee, Georgia. Salem Campmeeting becomes more treasured by us with each passing year. When we are here, in addition to being inspired by good Biblical teaching and preaching and glorious music---it's as if we can go back in time and gather around us all the memories of earlier days when the children were young and special people who have gone on to heaven were still with us--and there's a sense of the vast continuum of time that leads each of us to our eternal home. Until that day, SALEM is about as good as it gets!!!