Sandy Springs Methodist Church camp meeting was held on church property, conveniently near the spring for which the community is named. The first Sandy Springs Methodist Church building was a log cabin constructed on five acres donated by Wilson Spruill sometime between 1849 and 1851.
Civil War maps, drawn by Union soldiers, show the location of the Methodist campground, indicating the tradition began pre-Civil War. (“Images of America: Sandy Springs,” by Kimberly M. Brigance and Morris V. Moore)
Each year following the last work on the crops before harvest time, better known as laying by time, families would gather at the campground for five to ten days of religious meetings, singing, food, and socializing. They stayed in small structures called tents, which were log cabins or shacks with sawdust floors.
To prepare for camp meeting, the family gathered food, bedding and cooking utensils. Women sewed new clothes for the family so they could look their best for the event, which was the summer vacation of a farming family. People also brought their musical instruments to entertain friends between sermons.
Sandy Springs camp meeting in 1912 ended on August 11th after almost a week of daily sermons. “The tents were filled with hundreds of worshipers from the surrounding territory, and the final service was marked by short sermons by four prominent divines,” announced the newspapers. (August 12, 1912, Atlanta Journal, “Sandy Springs camp meeting has closed”)
This photo of the Sandy Springs Methodist campground gives a small view of the tents or small cabins that were located at the campground. The photo is from “Images of America: Sandy Springs,” by Kimberly M. Brigance and Morris V. Moore. The young women in the photo are Clara, Ella, Flavela and Evelyn Owens.
The preachers who attended camp meeting were provided room and board. A large tent that could hold ten men was located on the camp property where a water tower was later built. (“Sandy Springs Past Tense,” by Lois Coogle)
The 1927 camp meeting was advertised in the Atlanta Journal newspaper. The location was Sandy Springs, 12 miles north of Atlanta on Roswell Road. The advertisement included the names of guest preachers and the directors that year for camp meeting. Directors include President Lon Burdette, Secretary Aldine Chambers, J. A. Mabry, John Copeland, M. P. Powers, J. E. Butler, and J. N. Reed. (Atlanta Journal, August 21, 1927, Sunday services to draw throngs to Sandy Springs”)
Fire destroyed the camp tents and arbor in 1931. A larger more modern arbor was built and used until 1959 when it was removed. The tents were not rebuilt.
Young people often looked forward to camp meeting as a time for courting. One Sandy Springs camp meeting romance was that of Buck Casey and Lizzie Burdette, who married at camp meeting on August 21, 1898, at 3 p.m. The parents of the young woman objected, but the couple planned to meet and marry at camp meeting and “Rev. Whitfield was on hand and quickly tied the matrimonial knot.” This news bulletin was reported in an August 22, 1898 Atlanta Journal article titled “A Runaway Marriage.”