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HISTORY OF
CHERRY RUN CAMP

Cherry Run Camp came into existence during “The Great Awakening,” the revival that spread across the eastern part of the United States during the Civil War. In 1862, the first such camp meeting in the Cherry Run area took place on the old Eli McCall farm, about one mile west of the present grounds. The ten-day camp meeting was held there for three years. Then, on June 17, 1865, trustees of the Cherry Run Union Camp Ground purchased the original “fourteen acres and twenty perches” from Daniel Crick and his wife Juliann, thereby making the Cherry Run Union Camp grounds a permanent camp. During this time, the Cherry Run Union Camp was governed by trustees from the Rimersburg, Curlsville, and Callensburg charges of the Methodist Church.

 

Admission tickets were used until 1934 when the practice was discontinued and a “free-will offering” was instituted. Since then, the camp’s various expenses have been met through such offerings, as well as through faith promises and the generosity of the camp’s many friends and supporters.

In 1949, the Brookville District passed a set of resolutions which authorized the district to establish a camp meeting association to provide for the needs of the camp. The camp is still run by the association board to this day, consisting of both laity and clergy.

 

Beginning with the camp meeting in 1968, there has been a day to emphasize missions. The evening service was also set aside for missions as well. This is what we know as Missions Marathon Day.

A permanent caretaker was hired in 1973 to take care of the grounds and to direct the use of the camp’s various facilities by those renting it. A trailer was set at the entrance to the camp to provide housing for the caretaker. Five caretakers have resided there, taking care of the daily activities on the grounds. However, the trailer has since been removed, and the caretakers are no longer housed on the grounds.

The construction of the trailer campsite area opened another type of camping on the grounds. Cherry Run Camp was now able to accommodate those wishing to bring their own campers. Electrical, water and sewage hook-ups are available at the sites.

Tabernacle

In the spring of 1867, the tabernacle (Platt Memorial) was erected and in 1915 it was newly painted. In 1948, the tabernacle was remodeled and dedicated as the Daniel E. Platt Hall. In 1999, the old Platt Memorial Hall tabernacle was removed, and on August 2, 2001 the James Marshall Tabernacle was completed and dedicated.

 

Dining Hall

In 1970, the Shaffer Building was erected.

 

Old Hotel

The date of construction of the Old Hotel is not known. Early references to the camp refer to a two story boarding house. In the 1940s, the Old Hotel was remodeled, and a kitchen was added to the rear of the building to prepare meals for campers.With the kitchen, snack bar and dining hall on the first floor and sleeping rooms on the second, the hotel became a center of activity. The third floor of the Old Hotel was used as a dorm for boys. Because the kitchen was no longer needed with the construction of the Shaffer Building (Dining Hall), in 1972 the old kitchen was remodeled into six first floor bedrooms. The old snack bar became a classroom. Now it is two bedrooms.

 

Bashline

Mrs. Zoe Bashline, a public-school teacher ready to retire, taught an extra year in order to finance the construction of a dorm for girls. A large house was renovated for this purpose and is now known as Bashline Cottage (or the Nurse’s Cottage). 

 

Boy’s Dorm

Victor Korb, with the help of several laymen, built the bunks in the old “Children’s Temple,” thereby making a dorm for boys. Construction of the current first floor of the Boy’s Dorm took place in 1963 due to the rising number of youth attending camp. In 2001, a second story was added to the Boy’s Dorm, and the boys moved to the top floor.

 

Speaker’s Cottage

Originally, the evangelists were housed in what is now known as the Shumaker Cottage, but as the camp expanded in the early 1950s, a special cottage that would house the two evangelists, the song leader, and the district superintendent was needed. The Speaker’s Cottage was subsequently erected. It has since been dedicated as Dad Ross Hall.

There was also a time during the early years when the camp had a swimming pool. At the lower end of the flat, an area was excavated, but unfortunately the incoming water had a high concentration of sulfur and such a stench that the young people quickly abandoned the pool. Sometime around the 1930s, the pool was permanently closed.

 

From the camp’s beginning, the district superintendent stayed on the grounds during camp meeting and directed camp. The superintendent was housed in a small cottage (roughly where the Strattanville cottage now stands), and for years the Superintendent’s Cottage was the only one on the grounds with indoor plumbing. However, it was torn down in 1968.

 

Around 1934 or 1935 the pastor of the Rimersburg Methodist Church, “Daddy Ross,” and the Men’s Bible Class took an interest in revitalizing Cherry Run Camp as it had fallen into great disrepair and deep into debt. Daddy Ross asked Jonathan E. Shaffer, or “Daddy Shaffer,” to come to Cherry Run Camp and help their efforts. Although initially somewhat reluctant to do so, Daddy Shaffer became known as the man who kept Cherry Run alive.

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