Yarmouth Camp Ground Historic District

Yarmouth Camp Ground is a 60.6-acre Methodist camp meeting site in western Yarmouth, Massachusetts, with a small part in Barnstable. Land was acquired beginning in 1863, and an open worship area, first ringed by tents, gradually gave way to permanent cottages. By the mid-1880s about 150 small Gothic Revival cottages stood here, many with board and batten or shingle siding, pointed-arch openings and ornate vergeboards. Alfred Berry, Joseph Bassett and Nathaniel Snow were among the builders. Public buildings included Grove House (1872) and Johnson Hall (1871), both still standing, while the Tabernacle, Dining Hall and railroad station were lost. Camp meetings ran every year from 1863 to 1939. In 1945 the cottage owners bought the grounds from the camp meeting association. Narrow tree-lined roads, footpaths and the preserved open space of Tabernacle Park keep the original relationship between buildings and landscape clear. The district was listed as an unusually cohesive and authentic example of its type.