Jenny Peterson

Residents enjoy the weather at The Cypress Methodist Campground on Tuesday, the first day of the annual week-long camp meeting.

Jenny Peterson

A historical marker was recently placed at the Cypress Methodist Campground with a brief description of the campground’s history.

Jenny Peterson

The description of the campground continues on the other side of the marker.

Historical documents show that in the late 1700s, Bishop Francis Asbury, the first Methodist Bishop in America, did some of his preaching at a nine-acre site east of Ridgeville.

Asbury stopped at the Cypress Methodist Campground five times over 10 years during a circuit-riding ministry. He preached to crowds from an outdoor wooden tabernacle, according to campground historian Mattie Lee D. Browning. Evidence of Asbury’s visits can be found in his journals, Browning said.

The tabernacle chapel and campground still stand on the original site today, wholly unchanged.

Residents flock to the Cypress Methodist Campground each year for an annual camp meeting, staying in the rustic wooden cabins — referred to as “tents” — that surround the chapel on three sides.

Now, campers and visitors can now read about the rich history of the campground from an official state historical marker.

A ceremony to unveil the informational sign was held at the campground on Tuesday afternoon, the first day of the annual week-long camp meeting. Nearly 100 residents and visitors gathered in the campground’s large open field to witness the sign’s unveiling.

The Upper Dorchester County Historical Society successfully petitioned for the historical marker, securing more than $2,000 to pay for it and working with the South Carolina Department of Archives and History to come up with the sign’s wording.

Rev. Dennis Mardis, of St. George United Methodist Church, dressed in period clothing during the ceremony, re-enacting historical figure Jesse Lee, who is said to have traveled with Asbury during the late 1700s.

“You are walking on the ground where (Asbury’s) footprints once were,” Mardis told the crowd. “This is a proud moment for all those that worked so hard (for this).”

 The campground has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. It is the oldest campground in Dorchester County and the second oldest in the state. A cemetery lies nearby.

Dorchester County Council members attended the ceremony and Chairman Jamie Feltner helped unveil the sign. Browning, who members of the historical society credit with spearheading the effort to get the marker, read aloud the sign’s wording.

It includes a description of the campground’s history, and also its modern-day activities.

“How often have we had strangers pass by and walk in and wonder what this (campground) is?” stated Lynn Hoover, a trustee of the Cypress campground. “Now they can come in and read about our campground.”

The “tents” have no electricity or running water and are in kept roughly in the same conditions that they were over two centuries ago. They are owned by individuals and passed down from generation to generation.

Trustees oversee the campground and bylaws state that the structures must be kept as close to its original construction as possible. Fires engulfed several cabins last year, and most have been rebuilt to their original appearance and construction. Once a year, at the end of October, residents come to the campground for food, fellowship and daily worship.

Cousins Denny and Larry Hill said their “tent” has been in the family for 66 years.

“I think the campground needs to be recognized,” Denny Hill said. “A lot of people come by and they don’t know what this is.”

Members of the historical society stated that they are looking at placing more historical markers throughout the county.

 “Cypress Campground is a rare, firsthand experience of early Americana,” states Browning in an account of the site’s history. “It should be reverently held in perpetuity as a priceless heritage which preserves the Godly customs and faith of our forefathers.”

Contact Jenny Peterson at 873-9424 ext. 216 or JPeterson@journalscene.com.

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