As I have mentioned before in this blog, Shingleroof Campmeeting starts this coming Friday, July 17th. It is an annual tradition in my family to take seven days out of our lives (along with a couple hundred other people) and make our pilgrimage to Shingleroof Campground in McDonough, Ga. For some, it’s a long trip. For people like me and lot of my local relatives in and around McDonough, it’s nothing but a short drive down the road. As of right now, I still live just five short miles away from a place that makes me feel a million miles removed from the everyday life.
Shingleroof Campground was founded in 1831 on land deeded to the Methodist Church in McDonough, GA from the Creek tribe. At that time, McDonough was only ten years old and Shingleroof was located in a wilderness no more than 30 miles from Indian Territory.
The roots of Campmeeting lay deep in the history of the Judeo-Christian religion. Campmeetings around the country are patterned closely on the ancient Jewish Holy Week of Sukot; also known as the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Booths. Sukot was established by God, speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, when He instructed the Jewish people in Leviticus 23:41-42, “Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in booths for seven days”
On April 12th, 1861, just nine days after Fort Sumter was fired upon (beginning the Civil War, or as my grandmother calls it: The War of Northern Aggression), volunteers started to gather in Henry County and Shingleroof Campground was their rallying point. It also became their training ground.
Now you have a brief, highlighted history of Shingleroof.
My cousin, Nancy Paul Miller, (who lives across the dirt road from me) wrote a paper on Shingleroof Campmeeting while she was a student back in 1994 at the College of St. Francis. She wrote a piece in that paper I would like to share with you here to sum up Campmeeting for you:
Vacation is a precious time. People ask what I am going to do on my vacation. I tell them I am going to Shingleroof Campground in McDonough, GA. There is no air conditioning, no TV’s, no VCR’s nor computers. Some children bring their small electronic games, but usually do not play with them unless it is raining and they don’t want to go out and play in the rain and puddles with the rest. Campmeeting is a kind of time out week, different from all the other weeks and holidays because my mind and living are slowed down and far away from so many of the noisy and busy distractions and demands of the late 20th century life. The porch is a special place at each tent. We watch the children and adults play. We see the water balloon battles, the making of mud pies, volleyball, softball games, and those who dare may swing on a rope swing with a plank for a seat. Children from all over the campground stand in line to swing up into the tree leaves. On the porch, we shell peas and string beans. Visitors walk from porch to porch joining in on the shelling and story telling. There may be ten to twenty or more living in one tent with one bathroom and shower. The bedrooms have two double beds so there may be six in a room. There is a hotel that was built this year without having to borrow money, but by donations and memorials. The hotel is used for reunions during the year and groups come during campmeeting to eat before or after services. It only has two rooms now for guests to spend the night. They may add more if needed. So what brings us to campmeeting? I feel it’s the ’spirit of competing’ and kinship. The religious services, the openness of the services, being out of doors, gives us the feeling of being in God’s presence. Being in a place special to our ancestors. Kinship is very important. We go our separate ways during the year, rarely seeing some, but for that one week we become close again and feel it helps us stay close though we are far apart. We learn of our heritage from stories passed down from the older generations. Those we never met we feel we know.
You did read right. Every year I spend a week of my life in a tent (read: cabin) that is made of rough cut boards, has a tin roof, the walls don’t join the ceiling (as there is none; just a view of the tin separating your and the rain). The tent boasts four bedrooms, three of which have two full beds that are wall to wall which can sleep up to six people comfortably… more if you’re throwing children in.
Having wall to wall beds makes steam rolling (the act of rolling over people laying in the bed, usually to wake them up) easier.
We have one toilet and one shower. This year we will have about 24 people staying at the tent daily and even more people coming for meals and to sit, rock and visit on the front porch and go to the two services offered daily.
Campmeeting will officially begin at 7:30 Friday night when the first church service in the tabernacle begins. Every day after that till the following Thursday there will be two church services held in the tabernacle. The building is an open walled church and is packed for every service offered. People bring their lawn chairs to sit outside the structure and listen to the pastor preach.
This will be my 26th annual Campmeeting. I prefer to count my time in my mom’s womb as a year at the campground. I’m sure that’s when it settled into my blood to begin with.
A lot of the tents at Shingleroof are more “primitive” than my family’s. They have sawdust floors and resemble more of a stable setting on the inside than a place to live. Some of the newer tents have air conditioning, but the majority of the buildings are still only cooled by ceiling fans. They’re life savers in the July Georgia heat.
My family has been tenting at Shingleroof for generations. The tent we occupy now was built for my great-grandmother, Dovie Bryans Elliott, by my grandmother and great-aunts. It was an upgrade from then tent my family used to have. A fire that destroyed on side of the Campground took their tent with it. My great-uncle is suspected of starting the fire with one of his cigars. Accidentally, of course.
Shingleroof Campground and the campmeeting that takes place there is dear to my heart. I love seeing my cousins (because nearly everyone who attends is related to me) for that time and feeling like I’m completely removed from the “real world”. Even cell phones have a hard time functioning at the campground. It’s almost as if you’re in a time warp and Shingleroof is sucking you in.
Honestly, Campmeeting is something you either love or hate. I find it hard to believe that anyone can hate the place. Yes, it’s hot and humid and you sweat a lot and are never properly clean. And yes, you also go to church twice a day and sweat there too. But you also have you Fs: Family, Friends, Fellowship, Food, Fun and Faithfulness. To me, you can’t beat that. All the discomforts bring you out of your own comfort zone and into a place that really does revive you. After all, that’s what you’re there to do; be revived.
Come if you like. Shingleroof is located at the intersection of Campground Road and Highway 155 in McDonough, GA. it will start at 7:30 Friday, July 17th and run till Thursday, July 23rd.
Come dip your toes in the spring, experience that “ol’ time religion”, swing on the rope swing, rock on the front porch, hear the blue hairs tell their stories, and get some sawdust under your toenails. Once it hits the blood stream, you’re hooked.
Current Mood:
Playful
Traditions have changed with the years. One tradition that we used to follow at Thanksgiving was taking a walk in the woods at my GranMar and GrandDaddy’s house after digesting. We’d also walk up the road to visit family friends. That tradition faded as it became harder for my grandparents to walk that far. I miss it.
It’s that time of year again! Christmas time is upon us and I’m very excited to spend my first Christmas as a wife in my new family!!
I wanted to write about our wedding day while its still fresh in my mind.
I’m beginning to feel like I do have a mental illness.
Sickly
I'm Jill, so you don't have to be...
