ABSTRACT
Camp meetings were among the most popular and wellattended religious phenomena of nineteenth-century American cultural life. These “festivals of democracy” (as Michael Chevalier has called them) were great outdoor gatherings lasting four to ten days, usually in the late summer. Tens of thousands would attend them each year, staying in canvas tents that were arranged in close proximity to create an intimate sense of community. Each day during camp meeting participants would gather for continuous services of worship held in open-air clearings or “bush arbors.” Rough preacher’s stands were often constructed with trees providing a natural canopy, while wooden planks set across stumps served as benches. The major portion of the religious services consisted of preaching, exhortation, testimonies, and popular singing. Overt physical displays of emotions, such as shouting, braying, and sometimes even dancing, were encouraged by speakers and participants alike, giving the camp meetings some of their most distinguishing characteristics.
