Old camp meetings remembered
WASHINGTON GROVE - The historic congregation of Washington Grove UMC took a step back in time to its camp meeting origins to celebrate its 96th anniversary.
In 1872, Methodists in the Washington, D.C., area began searching for a campsite 'convenient to the city but that would provide freedom from city annoyances,' said Doris E. Day. The Washington Grove Camp Meeting was built in a plan defined by the Sacred Circle - the site of the tabernacle and the center of the life of the early community. Preachers and choirs stood in the open tabernacle, and the congregation sat on rough wooden benches around them.
Descendants of those who once traveled by horse and buggy to the original camp meetings attended the anniversary celebration, which included a lot of singing of traditional hymns and an altar call. Not all traditions were followed. The Rev. Judy Young did not preach all day, 'to the great relief of the congregation,' Day said.
The camp meetings gave way to the Washington Grove Methodist Church in 1910, and in 1954, the present church was dedicated.
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