The Campground
Serving a special function were the campgrounds where Protestant religious meetings were held once or twice a year, usually during “laying-by” time. The early camp meetings were held in an arbor-like shelter constructed of oak posts with V-tops forming a frame for horizontal poles that were then covered with leafy branches. This shelter was called the tabernacle. Rough plank seats were constructed by laying long planks on supports held up by stakes driven in the ground. The dirt floor was covered with pine straw or sawdust to keep the dust down and the pulpit was made of rough planks. Smaller shelters called tents where the people camped out were built around the tabernacle and furnished with pine plank or pole beds and tables, straw and shuck mattresses. Later more substantial campgrounds, such as present-day Salem Church campground, were built with a permanent tabernacle and sturdy cabins. The Salem Campground on the Jackson-George County line is the oldest extant campground in the state ([Fig. 27]). The first camp meeting at Salem was held in 1826 and the present site was selected in 1842. The campground today is still arranged in the original U-shape, but the materials of the buildings have been replaced. The tabernacle is built of rough lumber, with three sides open and log posts supporting the roof. The floor, covered with pine straw, holds wooden benches which can seat 300 people. The cabins which surround the tabernacle are still traditionally known as “tents.” Each cabin has two rooms, one for sleeping, one for eating, cooking, or sitting, and the floors are covered with pine straw. A wooden bench adorns each front porch. The oldest tent on the campground is the Parker tent built around 1880. Meetings have been held every year at Salem Campground since 1826 except for two years during the Civil War.
Churches
After transportation improved and as the country became more thickly populated, churches were built. Rural Piney Woods churches were simple structures. Boykin Methodist Church ([Fig. 28]) near Burns and Piney Grove Church at Polkville are typical examples. The pioneer church building was rectangular, made of rough sawn pine, with pine shutters at the windows and home-made benches fronting toward the home-made pulpit. There was no ceiling, with the room rising to exposed hand-hewn rafters. Often there were two front doors, one for the men and one for the women, and one rear door. On the grounds of Piney Grove, one can still see the long stretch of tables which were built for “protracted meetings” which took the place of camp meetings. Instead of camping out, the people attended services during the day and went home for the night. There was always “dinner on the ground” at the protracted meeting.
Churches in more affluent areas generally had slave galleries, cabinet work on the pews, and glass windows. China Grove Methodist Church built in 1854 in Walthall County is a good example ([Fig. 29]).
Barns
Although roof styles vary, the barn type used almost exclusively in the Piney Woods is the transverse-crib barn. Henry Glassie, folk historian, has theorized that the transverse-crib barn developed in the southern Tennessee Valley. The Piney Woods settlers came from that area in large numbers. Roof styles include the gambrel and the pitched roof, but the most prevalent style is the A-roof (Figs. [30]-32).
Grist Mills
Each community usually had one farmer who built a water mill for grinding corn into meal. Lake Bounds in Clarke County has been the site of a grist mill since the beginning of the 19th century. The present mill was built by J. M. Martin in 1935 and is still operating.