Salem Camp Ground

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.