{"nrhp_refnum":"98001485","name":"Wesleyan Methodist Campground and Tabernacle","other_names":["Holiness Campground"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"321 Gordon St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ashburn","county":"Turner County","state":"GA","lat":31.70350983900005,"lon":-83.64994368999999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-12-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Religion"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A campground district on about three acres near downtown Ashburn, Turner County, Georgia, centered on an open-air tabernacle built in 1902, with a kitchen and a sleeping room dating to about 1914 and two non-historic buildings.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the tabernacle is a good, intact example of a camp meeting tabernacle, with post-and-beam construction, a large roof and an open-air meeting space. It is also an unusual urban campground in Georgia. It is significant in religion as a surviving site of the Wesleyan Methodist faith, which was rare in Georgia and is said to have six surviving campgrounds there.","narrative":"Wesleyan Methodist Campground and Tabernacle is a three-acre camp meeting site a few blocks from downtown Ashburn, Georgia. Its main feature is a pine post-and-beam tabernacle built in 1902 by R. V. Ayers and church members. The tabernacle has a large hipped metal roof, seats about 400 people, and is open on three sides, with only the wall behind the platform enclosed. Original movable pews remain. A frame kitchen and a sleeping room with eight small chambers, both from about 1914, complete the historic group; two buildings from about 1984 do not contribute. The campground is notable as an urban example in a state where such sites were usually rural, and as a surviving place of the Wesleyan Methodist faith, uncommon in Georgia. It hosted annual summer meetings for decades, drawing several hundred people. The City of Ashburn bought it in 1984 to prevent demolition, and it serves as a community meeting place.","period_of_significance":"1902-1948","architect_builder":"R. V. Ayers (built the tabernacle in 1902 with several men of the church)","architectural_style":"OTHER/tabernacle","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Owned by the City of Ashburn since 1984 and used as a public meeting space; camp meetings were held as late as 1991, and the nomination says they are still held in August when possible.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.517279-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/98001485.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001485/ee87e1fe1c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001485/ee87e1fe1c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bubba73 (Jud McCranie)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wesleyan_Methodist_Campground_and_Tabernacle,_Ashburn,_GA,_US.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bubba73 (Jud McCranie)</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wesleyan_Methodist_Campground_and_Tabernacle,_Ashburn,_GA,_US.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209781","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q141812269"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/turner-county/wesleyan-methodist-campground-and-tabernacle-98001485/"}