{"nrhp_refnum":"95001558","name":"Southwest Virginia Holiness Association Camp Meeting","other_names":["VDHR Site No. 129-123"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"202 and 208 E. Third St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Salem (Independent City)","county":"Salem","state":"VA","lat":37.28766303800006,"lon":-80.05383504199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-01-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-building camp meeting complex at East Third and South Colorado Streets in downtown Salem, Virginia, made up of a 1922 wooden tabernacle and a ca. 1926 two-story dormitory.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the complex is a rare surviving camp meeting and a notable urban version of a traditionally rural form of worship. It served Holiness Movement believers in the Roanoke Valley from the 1910s until services ended in the early 1990s. Its tabernacle was preserved almost unchanged while other associations moved to brick and stucco churches.","narrative":"On the corner of East Third and South Colorado Streets in downtown Salem, Virginia, two plain frame buildings once housed an annual Holiness camp meeting. The large tabernacle, built in 1922, has a metal front-gable roof, tall nine-over-nine windows and an auditorium designed for 2,000 people, with slatted benches facing a raised dais and altar rail. Beside it stands a two-story dormitory from about 1926, which lodged out-of-town participants. The complex adapted the open-air, rural camp meeting to a city setting, serving Roanoke Valley residents who had moved from the countryside. Its roots lie with Salem industrialist Demetrius Bittle Strouse, whose earlier tabernacle opened in 1901. The Southwest Virginia Holiness Association built the present tabernacle after his death, and later became the Salem Camp Meeting Association. Few changes were made over about seventy years of use. The meeting was cancelled in 1993, and the property was listed for its religious significance at the local level.","period_of_significance":"1922-1945","architect_builder":"Mr. Graham (probably Milburn W. Graham)","architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Services ended after the 1993 meeting was cancelled; the buildings were sold in 1994 and were being rehabilitated, the tabernacle as a youth theater and the dormitory as apartments.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.12677-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/70/6835/41683570/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/95001558.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95001558/bed6e9cd99-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/95001558/bed6e9cd99-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salem_Camp_Meeting.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salem_Camp_Meeting.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683570","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Virginia_Holiness_Association_Camp_Meeting","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16900408"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/salem/southwest-virginia-holiness-association-camp-meeting-95001558/"}