The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1900-08-10
BEAUTIFUL
MT. TABOR
The Annual Camp Meeting Now
In Session There.
Started Thirty Years Ago as Re-
Iigious Institution, Now Resort
Where Many Spend their Sum-
mers in Rest and Repose.

having been held Wednesday which
was W. @. 7. q. day. Thursday
was devoted to the Women's Foreign
Missionary Society, today the meetings
of the Women's Home Missionary
Societies are being. held, and tomorrow
will be the Epworth League rally
On the succeeding days of the camp
meeting, which will continue to Au-
gust 20, there will be preaching by en-
inent ministers from various sections
of the country. Large crowds are
now in attendance and these will un-
doubtedly be augmented before the
end Of the week. About 2,000 people
are staying on the grounds. and many
hundreds attend daily from all the
towns of the county.
Mt. Tabor is somewhat different in
character from what it was thirty
years ago when first started. The
church has kept progress with the
age and the methods of conducting
religious serv .ces have changed as
much as methods Of heating and
lighting houses.
1t was thirty-one years ago that
the camp meetings for which Mount
Tabor is now famous were first started.
The meetings of 1869 were not held at
Tabor but were conducted in tents
within the limits of the City OF
Morristown. The camp meetings
were held under the direction of a
committee appointed by the Newark
Conference. After the first year it
was deemed advisable by the COM
mittee to select some place in Morris
county where permanent ground
might be located And so an associa-
tion was incorporated for the purpose
Of holding such property as might be
selected.
Twenty eight acres on Mount Tabor
were first purchased and this site was
selected because the farmers and
others in the county had been in the
habit of meeting there annually and
enjoying an old fashioned camp meet
ing. The first cottage erected and
occupied is known as the Smith
cottage, built for Peter Smith, of
Morristown, in the spring of 1870
Mr.. Smith has been dead for some
years and his cottage has been rented
yearly.
After Smiths many other cottages
followed until within two years the
grounds were covered with houses.
Then 1t was seen that the place was
not large enough to accommodate all
who would build and so more land
was purchased. The grounds were
added to from year to year until now
they contain about 100 acres.
In the first years of the camp meet
ing at Mount Tabor crowds of from
s, 600 to 10000 people fiocked there
every Sunday to hear the preaching.
They came from Dover, Boonton,
Morristown, Madison, and the towns
and cities of the county. Now, how
ever, it is rare occurrence to see more
than 5000 people at one meeting. 1t
has become more of permanent in
stitution. People come there now and
remain all summer. Others come and
stay for month or two months
And there are still others who go to
Mount Tabor for a weeks vacation.
For it is delightful place in which
to spend few days in refreshing
rest. Many people use it as summer
resort as they would the Adirondacks,
the Catszills, or the seashore. But it
is more delightful than any of these,
as it is a church resort and the noises
of the secular camps are not to be
heard.
The cottages which now adorn the
grounds are mostly permanent struc-
lures. Among the handsomest of the
houses are those of Samuel Warren,
J. W. Cleveland, Oscar Hussa, j.
Murphy, W. P. Woodruff, A. d.
Barnes, Robert Eckings, f. N Barrett
and Richard Grant.
The committee in charge of the
camp meeting this year is the Rev. A.
B. Richardson, d. D., Rev. W. n
Morgan, d. D., and Rev. @. S.
| Woodruff, d. D. For several years
past the committee was Rev. d. r.
Lowrie, d. D., S. N. Bebout, D. D.,
and Rev. J. r. Byram. The first
two have died within the past year.
Many of the most prominent mer
of the Newark Conference have beer
connected with Tabor. Among these,
now deceased, may be mentioned Rev.
Robert L. Dashiell, d. D., Rev.
Robert Yard, Rev. J. M. Tuttle, Rev.
@. S. Colt, Rev. L. r. Dunn, D. d.,
Rev. T. J. Crane, d. d., and the Rev.
M. E. Ellison.
The free circulating library al
Tabor is one of it's features. The
books are selected with great care anc
the circulation exceeds 8, 900 volumes
a year A collection was recently
taken for the benefit of the library
and over $500 was realized. 1t is the
purpose of the ladies having the libra.
ry work in charge to enclose Ebenezel
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