Ebenezer Campground, Summer camp and historical site in Center Point, Arkansas.
Ebenezer Campground is a Methodist camp meeting ground in a forest clearing off Arkansas Highway 4 north of Center Point. Its six main structures are a tabernacle with a tin roof on square posts, three long dormitories, and two one-room minister's cabins. The dormitories are divided into "tents", each with four rooms and a shed-roofed kitchen.
The first camp meeting was held in the Center Point area in 1837 but was destroyed by a windstorm. A second site, founded in 1853, burned down, and the camp moved to its present location, where Union Army forces destroyed it during the Civil War. The tabernacle was lost to wind in 1942 and four buildings burned in 1966; each time, structures were rebuilt using traditional frontier techniques. The camp was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Each dormitory is divided into units called "tents": four rooms split by a breezeway, three used as bedrooms and the fourth, open on two sides, as a dining area, with a shed-roofed kitchen attached. The name recalls the canvas tents of 19th-century Methodist camp meetings, when families stayed on the grounds for days of preaching.
The location sits next to Arkansas Highway 4, north of Center Point, making it easily accessible by car. The best time to visit is during summer gatherings, when religious assemblies take place.
The dormitory buildings use horizontal wooden siding with special openings instead of windows to provide natural light and air flow. This design reveals the practical solutions that early Methodists created for their seasonal gatherings.
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