Balls Creek Campground is a historic
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
camp meeting
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier d ...
and national
historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
located near Bandy's Crossroads,
Catawba County, North Carolina
Catawba County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 160,610. Its county seat is Newton, and its largest city is Hickory. The county is part of the Hickory–Lenoir– Morganton, NC Metropo ...
.
The district encompasses 310 contributing buildings and 1 contributing site. They include the Arbor (c. 1930), "tents" (individual family dwellings) dating back to the 1850s, a store called "The Shack" (c. 1940), and
jail
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
dated to the late-19th / early-20th century.
History
The site was established in 1853 and is an offshoot of Rock Springs Campmeeting in Denver, NC after Lincoln was split into Catawba and Lincoln counties which is believed to be one of the largest religious campgrounds in the southern United States.
A
camp meeting
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier d ...
continues to be held there every August, with "tents" selling for as much as $65,000 each. The site was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1990.
[
On September 29, 2019, a "suspicious" fire destroyed or damaged 40 of the site's 302 cabins and elicited the response of more than 14 fire departments and over 100 firefighters from Catawba and surrounding counties.]
See also
* Pleasant Grove Camp Meeting Ground
* Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association
*Chapel Hill Church Tabernacle
Chapel Hill Church Tabernacle is a historic Methodist church tabernacle located near Denton, Davidson County, North Carolina. It was built in 1870 and enlarged in the 1920s. It is a one-story, heavy-timber, open-framework building, open on thre ...
References
External links
Official Website
Camp meeting grounds
Methodism in North Carolina
Campgrounds in North Carolina
Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
1853 establishments in North Carolina
Buildings and structures in Catawba County, North Carolina
National Register of Historic Places in Catawba County, North Carolina
Temporary populated places on the National Register of Historic Places
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