The Camp Meeting at Newton Hamilton, 1872

In October 1871 the Huntingdon Journal, reprinting the Lewistown Democrat, reported that the Juniata Valley Camp Meeting Association had bought grounds at Newton Hamilton, in Mifflin County, not far from the Huntingdon County line. A report that a site near McVeytown had been chosen, the paper said, was premature. The association bought 20 acres half a mile north of the railroad, on what had been the Vanzandt farm, at $100 an acre, and people of the town and vicinity gave 10 acres more.

The Journal of 15 November said the stockholders had met at Newton Hamilton with the Rev. B. B. Hamlin of Huntingdon in the chair. They set the capital stock at fifty thousand dollars in shares of $25, placed the association's office at Huntingdon, elected thirteen directors, among them men from Huntingdon, Broad Top and Mount Union, and told the board to get a charter. The Juniata Sentinel of Mifflintown said in June 1872 that the aim was a permanent camp meeting, "designed especially for the benefit of the Methodism of the Juniata Valley."

The directors met at Huntingdon on 23 April 1872 and agreed to hold their first annual meeting that August. Ellis's 1886 history gives that same day as the date of incorporation, and says a stock company was organized in 1872 with a capital of $16,500. Jordan's 1913 history also says the association was organized in 1872, and that it bought thirty-six acres. The newspapers of 1871 show it already buying land and selling stock, with a different capital figure.

A Journal writer who visited in July described a deep woods about three eighths of a mile north of the village, with four wells and three springs. One enclosure, 108 feet by 190, held 120 tents, and 200 tents in all were to be finished by opening day. Tents rented at $7 for the lower floor and $6 for the upper, and board for the ten days was $7.50.

The meeting opened on Tuesday, 6 August 1872. The Journal reported on 14 August that all the completed tents had been taken, about one hundred and seventy as near as the paper could learn.

By Ellis's account the grounds covered thirty-six acres, well timbered with chestnut and maple, with buildings on twelve of them, and meetings ran ten days each August. Ellis named K. M. King of Huntingdon County as the association's president. In July 1891 the Democratic Watchman of Bellefonte announced the annual meeting for 11 through 21 August, in a beautiful grove of thirty-six acres.

Checked 2026-11-01 · Primary sources and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive

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