The year was 1874, less than a decade after the end of the Civil War. The month was August, during the “layby,” when the summer crops were not mature enough to be harvested, and the fall crops were not ready for planting. The location was the corner of a plantation farm between the Old Plank Road and the mighty Catawba River in eastern Lincoln County, North Carolina. A small group of ex and free slaves had convened to renew and strengthen family ties and worship Jesus Christ.

Their shelter was a brush arbor constructed in a dense grove of trees, which provided cover from the hot summer sun and predictable late afternoon summer showers.

They camped out one night, probably more. They cooked over open fires. Chants, spiritual songs, and the praising rhetoric of itinerant preachers were the sounds that enveloped their first camp meeting.

This practice persisted for over 150 years every year except for three - two years from COVID and one year from polio.

The story of the Tucker’s Grove Camp Meeting Ground has not been comprehensively documented until now.