Balls Creek Campground

Balls Creek Campground is a historic Methodist camp meeting and national historic district located near Bandy's Crossroads, Catawba County, North Carolina.[2]

Balls Creek Campground
Balls Creek Campground, July 2010
Balls Creek Campground is located in North Carolina
Balls Creek Campground
Balls Creek Campground is located in the United States
Balls Creek Campground
LocationWest side of SR 1003, 0.1 miles (0.16 km) south of SR 1943, near Bandy's Crossroads, North Carolina
Coordinates35°37′46″N 81°05′50″W
Area31.1 acres (12.6 ha)
MPSCatawba County MPS
NRHP reference No.90000662[1]
Added to NRHPApril 27, 1990

The district encompasses 310 contributing buildings and 1 contributing site. They include the Arbor (c. 1930), "tents" (individual family dwellings) dating back to the 1850s, a store called "The Shack" (c. 1940), and jail dated to the late-19th / early-20th century.

History

The site was established in 1853 and is an offshoot of Rock Springs Campmeeting in Denver, NC after Lincoln was split into Catawba and Lincoln counties which is believed to be one of the largest religious campgrounds in the southern United States.[3]

A camp meeting continues to be held there every August, with "tents" selling for as much as $65,000 each.[4] The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[1]

On September 29, 2019, a "suspicious" fire destroyed or damaged 40 of the site's 302 cabins and elicited the response of more than 14 fire departments and over 100 firefighters from Catawba and surrounding counties.[5]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Educational Father and Son Weekend Getaways". ManTripping. July 10, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  3. Barbara Kooiman and Michael Hill (July 1989). "Balls Creek Campground" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
  4. "Balls Creek Campmeeting is tradition, way of life and memories | The Observer News Enterprise". www.observernewsonline.com. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  5. Esposito, Gina; Faherty, Dave. "Investigators: Fire at historic campground set; no arrests made". WSOC TV.


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