Title
Preview
Location
Highway 182, St. George
City
St. George
County
Dorchester
Date of Founding
1810
Date of Photograph
1-1-2014
Description
Architecturally, the design of Indian Fields reflects its use as a setting for a collective religious experience. A sense of community is heightened by the circle of adjacent cabins. Constructed in 1848, Indian Fields Methodist Camp Ground retains the 19th-century layout of 99 wooden cabins (or “tents,” as they are called), which form a circle around a large wooden pavilion, the “preaching stand” or “tabernacle.” The simplicity of the rough-hewn cabins and the open tabernacle is a part of the unpretentious style of evangelism that attracted a popular following. The original Indian Fields Camp Ground, located 2 miles away, was functional as early as 1810. In this year, Francis Asbury, who led the organization of American Methodism through itinerant preaching known as “riding circuits,” preached at Indian Fields. Even after many other stops on the circuits had become established churches, the meeting camp retained a tremendous influence on the development of religious life. Serving crowds too large for church buildings or homes, the campground responded to both religious and social needs. The ambiance of an antebellum campground such as Indian Fields was a unique part of the American collective experience. Source: NRHP
Source
National Register of Historic Places
Rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License