4
Black Ink
Tuesday, Feb. 11,1986
Campground Remembered
as Place For Reunion, Worshipi
by Shirley Hunter
Managing Editor
Nestled between the tall pines
and small, scattered neighborhoods in
eastern Lincoln County, N.C., stands a
site that few would recognize as
historic landmark. The rows of
weathered cabin-like “tents” melded
together by a few rusty nails look as if
they should have been condemned
years ago. The sawdust that covers
the ground like a thick, plush carpet,
holds memories for a selected few.
The concession stands, empty now,
but with crushed and dirty snowcone
containers and gum wrappers strewn
nearby, only look like shells.
But during the last two weeks of
August, everything comes to life here
at TXicker’s Grove Campground. It has
served as a religious and social outlet
for blacks since 1868. Until then, black
and white Methodists in the surround
ing area worshipped and held revival
services together.
The tradition of holding revival
services under a wooden structure
known as an arbor, dates back to 1794
when a Methodist minister held a
revival meeting under a tent. After
that year, it is said that a spiritual
awakening occurred in Lincoln County,
and the revivals became an annual
event. From then on, people are said to
have come near and far to worship and
be converted under the then cloth
tents.
In 1868, when the blacks
branched off from the predominantly
white Rock Springs Campground, also
in Lincoln County, a popular social
and religious event was initiated.
Each day during the two-week camp-
meeting, night services are conducted
by different ministers. Massive choirs
accompanying each minister sing
anything from the tried and true old
negro spirituals, to new inspirational
songs. The splintery wooden pews are
primative reminders of past camp-
meetings when blacks just freed from
slavery would jump and shout the
house down. Now, those who come
decked out in their Sunday best, pay
no mind to the inconvenience and
hardness of the benches. They just
come to have a good time and worship
with friends and relatives.
Over the years, the Campground
has also become somewhat of a gigan
tic family reunion where people sleep
over. The wooden tents, some well
over 100 years old, are put together
by wooden pegs and are home away
from home for many people. Area
residents bring stoves, beds, chairs,
couches and other furniture to help
make their stay in them more plea
sant and convenient. Furnishings in
the tents range from the barely
decorated and reminiscent of the ear
ly days, to the nouveau riche with
paper on the walls and plush carpet
covering the floors. Most people,
however, just bring the essentials for
their stay at the campground, choos
ing to imitate the lifestyle of their
ancestors as much as possible.
Much social activity accompanies
the religious function. After arbor
services are finished each night, peo
ple gather in the dusty mid-section to
catch up on the activities of old
classmates or to renew old kinship
ties. Around 9:30 p.m., the aisles bet
ween the tents are spotlighted by a'
yellow glow cast by lights on the ven
ding carts. The vendors shout, “Get
your hotdogs, here,” while children
play games with their friends and
their parents reminisce with old high
school chums.
On Big Saturday and Big Sunday,
the last two days, the Campground is
the center of activity for many blacks
in the Piedmont area. Rows and rows
of cars line each side of the road for at
least one-fourth of a mile. Friends and
relatives from as far away as Penn
sylvania, Connecticut and Canada
come, they say, to visit for a special
weekend of giving thanks to God and
for friends and family.
Hattie Mae Graham, a native of
Mt. Holly, N.C., comes to the Camp
ground annually for those very
reasons. “Here you meet good friends,
and hear good preachin* — old-time
preachin,”’ she said. She said it was
like a vacation when she visited.
Nostalgia also brings many to the
Campground. In the mid-section,
where sometimes as many as 1,000
people have been known to gather,
bellows of laughter and guffaws
accompany the tall tales told by
friends seeing each other for the first
time in 10 years. Cousins find joy in
remembrance of past times when life
was simpler. Children with dripping
ice cream cones grasped in wet, sticky
hands, run blindly around parent’s
coattails playing tag games and yell
ing, “Mommy, tell him to stop chasing
me,” while giggling hysterically.
But the Campground is not just
for very young or old, either.
Teenagers and young adults often
come, especially on Big Saturday and
Sunday. Dances are planned and local
high school football heroes come to
show off school colors.
The Campground is especially a
popular hangout after the first foot
ball practice of the season. Players
from different schools come to boast
of what they hope will be a winning
season. Also, the Campground has
been known to aid in matchmaking.
Even with this variety of activi
ties, Tucker’s Grove Campground
may seem a bit country to some, and
unsophisticated to others. After all,
the sawdust and the outdoorsy atmos
phere takes some getting used to. But,
to others it is a place where time has
stood still.
To Ernest Graham, also of Mt.
Holly, it is a place where church and
family are still the most important
things in life. Graham, who has been
attending camp-meetings for over 50
years, said, “It’s a place just to have a
good time.”
Tucker’s Grove Campground is
not the only religious campground
existing in North Carolina. A few
others still exist, such as Popular
Springs in Lincoln^County and McKen
zies in Catawba County, but many
have faded with the passage of time.
Most sprung up as a response to the
spiritual awakening of the late 1700s
and 1800s. According to. And They All
Sang Hallelujah, by Dickson D. Bruce
Jr., they were in direct response to
frontier conditions which made it
impossible for blacks to afford to build
churches. So, the open-air wooden
arbors was substituted. According to
Bruce, the campaign or tenting prac
tices began when the slaves from
surrounding areas heard about
ministers preaching great revival
messages in wooden arbors and
decided to camp out to hear the
messages each night.
In the book, Slave Religion: The
Invisible Institution in the
Antebellum South, by Albert J.
Raboteau, slaves enjoyed the camp-
meetings. To them, it was a time not
only to be spiritually revived, but to
be together. In the book an ex-slave,
Charlie Aarons, says, “there would be
camp-meetings held and the slaves
from all the surrounding plantations
would attend, going. . in these large
wagons They would have a jolly
time along the way, singing and call
ing to one another, and making
friends.”
Media
, coQtiaqed from page 1
have been one dimensional too long.”
Minorities need the opportunity
to get into the industry, whether they
succeed or fail, he said.
“Every minority person isn’t
going to be successful,” Fitzpatrick
said. “Every minority person isn’t
going to be a superstar and this is
where another problem arises.”
Fitzpatrick said that most
editors miss a lot of good talent
because they say they want nothing
but the best. “When envisioning the
best, sometimes we overlook great
potential.”
“The inevitable is here,” he said.
“We’re not going away.”
Fitzpatrick said that 30 years ago
when he started in the business, he
was the first black in a building of 600
people. Now he is the director of
minority affairs for Knight-Ridder
News.
“We as professionals need to
know how to deal with the inevitable,”
he said.
“We have a role to play in this
business,” he told the editors.
“The greatest tragedy we can
create when we leave this conference
is to leave these young people with
hope and nothing else. Don’t leave
them hanging. You can’t lose if you
make a wise selection.”
Laurie Denise Willis, editor,
holds weekly office hours from
4K)0-5:00 on Mondays in room 220B
Upendo Lounge and 12:30-1:30 on
Tuesdays in the BSM office. Please
feel free to come by if you have sug
gestions for the Ink, article ideas,
would like to join the staff or just to
talk. If these times are not convenient
for you, just give Laurie a call
(933-3277) to set one up. Have a great
semester and please continue reading
the Black Inkl
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