{"nrhp_refnum":"72000972","name":"Tucker's Grove Camp Meeting Ground","other_names":[],"category":"site","location":{"address":"N of Machpelah off SR 1360","address_restricted":false,"city":"Machpelah","county":"Lincoln County","state":"NC","lat":35.467632104000074,"lon":-81.08313338499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-10-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Architecture","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A camp meeting ground in an oak grove near a spring at Machpelah, Lincoln County, North Carolina, founded in the first half of the nineteenth century by the Methodist Episcopal Church. It has a central open arbor surrounded by frame family 'tents'.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an early result of Methodist efforts to reach enslaved people, and as probably the oldest continuously operating black campground in North Carolina. It is also a well-preserved example of a regional camp meeting plan and vernacular building types. It is tied to the revival movement that reached Lincoln County as early as 1794.","narrative":"Tucker's Grove Camp Meeting Ground is a religious gathering site in an oak grove near a spring at Machpelah, Lincoln County. At its center is an open arbor with a deep pyramidal tin roof, a pulpit platform, a mourner's bench and plank pews. Around it, frame family-owned tents form a nearly continuous square. Each is a one-story gabled building with a shed porch and rear shed room, used once a year. The camp was founded in the first half of the nineteenth century by the Methodist Episcopal Church as part of an effort to minister to enslaved people. It has operated continuously since 1876 as an A.M.E. Zion camp meeting under a board of trustees, and Mary E. Tucker donated the grove in 1879. The nomination calls it probably the oldest continuously operating black campground in North Carolina. It resembles nearby Rock Springs Camp Ground and other western North Carolina camp meeting complexes, each adapted from regional vernacular building types.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular camp meeting complex (central arbor with surrounding frame tents)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in excellent condition, unaltered, on its original site, occupied and in religious use. The east side tents burned recently and new ones are being built.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.313407-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/6/7211/47721106/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/72000972.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721106","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucker%27s_Grove_Camp_Meeting_Ground","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21261966"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/lincoln-county/tuckers-grove-camp-meeting-ground-72000972/"}