First Camp Meeting, Rehobeth, NC - Timeline Event
Founder
Daniel Asbury
Time Period
1794
Description
Camp meetings were influential in the development of Second Great Awakening (1790s-1840s), as these outdoor multi-day revivals helped produce religious fervor and gain members for religious groups like Methodists and Presbyterians.
The Camp Meeting movement often gets attributed to the Presbyterians in the early 1800s, with Cane Ridge camp meeting (1801) being the most popular. However, the Methodists actually held one of the first camp meetings at Rehobeth, North Carolina in 1794. The camp meeting was somewhat accidental, as Rev. Daniel Asbury moved his congregation into the nearby forest while a new church was being built. The meeting lasted several days and nights, with several different ministers attending and approximately 300 participants converting. Not too long after, union camp meetings between Methodists and Presbyterians formed, and the popular camp meeting movement of the Second Great Awakening officially began to gain momentum throughout the United States.
The Camp Meeting movement often gets attributed to the Presbyterians in the early 1800s, with Cane Ridge camp meeting (1801) being the most popular. However, the Methodists actually held one of the first camp meetings at Rehobeth, North Carolina in 1794. The camp meeting was somewhat accidental, as Rev. Daniel Asbury moved his congregation into the nearby forest while a new church was being built. The meeting lasted several days and nights, with several different ministers attending and approximately 300 participants converting. Not too long after, union camp meetings between Methodists and Presbyterians formed, and the popular camp meeting movement of the Second Great Awakening officially began to gain momentum throughout the United States.
Interactive Timeline(s)
Browse Related Timeline Entries
Religious Groups
Methodist/Pietist Family: Other ARDA LinksMethodist/Pietist Family: Religious Family Tree
Movements
The Second Great AwakeningPhotographs
Camp Meeting- Hathi Trust- from History of Methodism in North Carolina by W. L. Grissom
Rehobeth Methodist Church- photo by Derick Hartshorn
Preaching in the woods- Hathi Trust- from History of Methodism in North Carolina by W. L. Grissom
Book/Journal Source(s)
Bucke, Emory Stevens, 1964. The History of American Methodism Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.Reid, Daniel, Robert Linder, Bruce Shelley, and Harry Stout, 1990. Dictionary of Christianity in America Downers Grove, IL.
Web Page Contributor
Benjamin T. GurrentzAffliated with: Pennsylvania State University, Ph.D. in Sociology
