{"nrhp_refnum":"98000175","name":"Salem Camp Ground","other_names":["Salem Camp Meeting"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"3940 Salem Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Covington","county":"Newton County","state":"GA","lat":33.586370476500065,"lon":-83.96487941909756,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-03-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Religion","Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Salem Camp Ground is a Methodist-founded religious camp meeting district at 3940 Salem Rd., Covington, Newton County, Georgia, centered on an 1854 tabernacle and ringed by small frame \"tents\" (houses), with the earliest tent dating to about 1840.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the camp ground is a very intact example of a traditional Southern camp meeting ground, with its central tabernacle, family tents, bell, water tower and hotel. It is also important for religion, because meetings have been held every summer for over 150 years except during the Civil War, and for social history as a yearly gathering place for rural families.","narrative":"Salem Camp Ground, on Salem Road in Covington, Georgia, is a camp meeting district built around a large open-sided wooden tabernacle, also called the arbor. Hand-hewn timbers joined with wooden pegs form the 1854 structure, which was built by contractors Moses Mann and Slider Presnal and has a sawdust floor and original benches. Around it, on three sides, stand about 25 simple frame houses known as \"tents,\" the oldest dating to about 1840. The grounds also hold a 1940 hotel, a bell, a water tower, a spring house over a gum spring, and about 30 acres of virgin hardwood forest. Meetings have been held each August for more than 150 years, pausing only during the Civil War. The camp ground became interdenominational in 1939 and is run by a multi-faith board. It was listed for its intact camp meeting layout and its role in religion, social history, architecture and community planning, with a period of significance of c.1840 to 1948.","period_of_significance":"c.1840-1948","architect_builder":"Tabernacle built in 1854 by Moses Mann and Slider Presnal (contractors); the form lists architect/builder as N/A.","architectural_style":"OTHER","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a religious camp ground, with annual camp meetings held in August; the old woman's clubhouse now serves as a volunteer fire department.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.247918-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/98000175.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209188","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_Camp_Ground","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16948606"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/newton-county/salem-camp-ground-98000175/"}