Historic Cane Ridge Meeting House Interior

The Cane Ridge Revival was a large

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 ...

that was held in

Cane Ridge, Kentucky Cane Ridge was the site, in 1801, of a huge camp meeting that drew thousands of people and had a lasting influence as one of the landmark events of the Second Great Awakening, which took place largely in frontier areas of the United States. T ...

, from August 6 to August 12 or 13, 1801.E. Michael, & Rusten, S. (2005). The complete book of when & where in the Bible and throughout history. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. pages 331-332 It has been described as the " rgest and most famous camp meeting of the

Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...

."Reid, D. G., Linder, R. D., Shelley, B. L., & Stout, H. S. (1990). Dictionary of Christianity in America. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. Entry on ''Cane Ridge Revival'' This camp meeting was arguably the pioneering event in the history of frontier camp meetings in America.J. William Frost, "Part V: Christianity and Culture in America, ''Christianity: A Social and Cultural History'', 2nd Edition, (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1998), 430

Location and attendance

It was based at the

Cane Ridge Meeting House Cane Ridge Meeting House is a historic church building on Cane Ridge near Paris, Kentucky built in 1791. It is one of the oldest church buildings in Kentucky and the largest one room log structure. The church was the site of a large frontier Chr ...

near

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

( Bourbon County) and drew between 10,000 and 20,000 people. According to ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement'', logistical considerations make it unlikely that more than 10,000 could have been present at any one time, but 20,000 could have attended the meeting at some time during the week, which would have been "nearly 10 percent of the recorded population of Kentucky in 1800". At least one, and possibly more, speaking platforms were constructed outside the building because the number of attendees far exceeded the capacity of the meeting house.

Hosting and organization

The meeting was hosted by the

Presbyterian church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

at Cane Ridge and its minister,

Barton W. Stone Barton Warren Stone (December 24, 1772 – November 9, 1844) was an American evangelist during the early 19th-century Second Great Awakening in the United States. First ordained a Presbyterian minister, he and four other ministers of the Washingt ...

.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone–Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Cane Ridge Revival'', pages 165-166 The church decided to invite other local Presbyterian and

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 ...

churches to participate in its annual Communion service. Ministers from Presbyterian, Methodist and

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...

backgrounds participated. Eighteen Presbyterian ministers participated, as well as numerous Methodists and Baptists, but the event was based on Scottish traditions of Holy Fairs or communion seasons. The meeting began on a Friday evening with preaching continuing through Saturday, and the observation of communion beginning on Sunday. Traditional elements included the "large number of ministers, the action sermon, the tables, the tent, the successive servings" of communion, all part of the evangelical Presbyterian tradition and "communion season" known in Scotland.Schmidt (1989), ''Holy Fairs'', pp. 64-65 An estimated 800 to 1,100 received communion. During the meeting multiple ministers would preach at the same time in different locations within the camp area, some using stumps, wagons and fallen trees as makeshift platforms.

References

{{Christian History, collapsed Restoration Movement Nondenominational Christianity 1801 in Christianity 1801 in the United States 1801 in Kentucky August 1801 events