Established in 1834, Mount Zion Camp Meeting was indicative to what you would expect during that era. Christians in search of revival would meet in August after the farmers had harvested the crops. They met for a full two weeks having services three times a day under a wooden brush arbor for shade.

They stayed in “tents” constructed of rough-cut lumber and resembling barns arranged in a circle around the brush arbor as described in Numbers 2:2 of the Israelite Tribes encampment around the Tabernacle. Typical of the early 1800’s, men wore long sleeve shirts and full-length pants while women donned full-length dresses, corsets, and petticoats. The tents were simple structures of rough-cut lumber, metal roofs, and sawdust floors. Wood stoves and all household essentials had to be moved to the grounds to live there for the two-week revival. Not able to travel home each day, milking cows and chickens made the trip to Camp Meeting as well.

Most people arrived to Camp Meeting by foot, horse and buggy, or mule. In 1886, Southern Railway ran train tracks near the modern day intersection of Highway 16 and Vaughn Road about 1/2 mile from the grounds. This established a train stop that offered an excursion train from Atlanta. People would pack picnic lunches and arrive by train for the day to return that evening. This continued until 1939 when the tracks were taken up.

There have only been two events that caused Camp Meeting to not take place; the four years of the Civil War and the year 2020, due to Covid. During the war, the grounds and buildings fell into disrepair. Many tents were stripped for their building materials to make repairs at home causing the grounds to be in dire need after the war. William McKendree Blanton suggested building a new tabernacle and patterning it after a tabernacle in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. A smaller version was constructed from the plans and dedicated in August of 1884. That tabernacle housed the services until struck by lightning in February of 1959. Lynn Tessin remembers visiting the sight and everyone crying due to the loss. Virginia Crowder described it as a test from God. Camp Meeting still took place that year, but is remembered as the hottest Camp Meeting in history under a circus tent. The current tabernacle was constructed, in 1960.

The 1950’s and 1960’s brought many positive changes to Camp Meeting. Ice boxes had become popular, and the ice man would make deliveries of ice to the residents. In 1951, electricity was introduced to the grounds, but there still was no running water as we know it today. Before county water became available around 1968, the only sources of water on the grounds were a water pump and a natural spring which still flows today. Stories are told of how there were so many visitors on Sunday that the spring would be dipped dry. Despite that, the spring has never run dry, even during the extreme drought of 1925. With the availability of county water, our two bath houses were constructed. Before those, it is estimated that four outhouses served the needs of the grounds and baths were a luxury taken in wash tubs.

In 1962, Reverend Eugene Walton, “Mr. Preacher”, was appointed to Mt. Zion UMC and Pomona UMC, which also brought a relationship with Mt. Zion Camp Meeting. He introduced youth workers who engaged youth with activites during camp meeting. In the beginning the youth leader doubled as the song leader. Both Reverend Richard Lively and Reverend Don Harp who served in the 1960’s are remembered fondly for the program they established for the youth and bringing games such as capture the flag.

Over the years, ways to stay overnight at the campground have both evolved and stayed much the same. It seems to have always been popular for families to construct barn-like structures called tents to stay in during the revival. There was also a public tent where people could get a meal and room if so desired. The first public tent was established in 1904 when the largest tent on the grounds was purchased from W. P. Horne. It stood on the same site as our modern hotel building. In 1930, all of the tents on the southeast side of the grounds were destroyed by fire, including the public tent.

While each family has stories of their tent and how they came to be, there are three currently standing tents to note. The Griffin Tent is featured in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. When you see the movie, see if you can pick it out. Also, it is debated whether the currently named O’Quinn Tent or Campbell Tent is the oldest standing structure on the grounds. The Campbell Tent was originally constructed by the Blanton family and included a kitchen tent which stood between it and the old Preacher’s Tent. The O’Quinn tent, which is located directly beside the Mount Zion United Methodist Church, was called the Thomas Tent. When the Public Tent was destroyed in the fire, the Thomas Tent was expanded to become the Public Tent. It served as the Public Tent until 1945 when about 150 acres of the campground land was sold to raise money to build a “hotel”.

The first hotel was a two-story wooden building that also included a kitchen downstairs and a large banquet hall with attractive pine paneling. The current dining hall was constructed in 1973, moving the cooking and serving of food to our current facility. The last event hosted at the old dining hall was the wedding reception of Keith and Vicky Huckaby. It was torn down, in 1976, to make way for our current hotel building.

Mt. Zion Camp Meeting has a long and rich history offering people a place to take a break from day to day responsibilities and focus on their relationship with God. Ed Griffin echoed the sentiment of many generations when he said, “It’s going to last long as anything, because God’s got his finger on it.”