Pleasant Grove Campground is located in Mineral Springs, North Carolina.  It is the home of a week long gathering that occurs once a year (July) called "campmeeting".  The grounds are also the home of the Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church which has regular Sunday worship services all year long.

The campground is made up of eighty-nine "tents" (cabins) which surround a wooden arbor

and the Methodist Church.

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Each year, "tent" owners and their family members (usually several generations) come back together for fellowship on the grounds.  Some come from towns nearby while others come from across the country.  Everyone is welcome whether they know someone that has a "tent"  or if they've just heard about it for the first time.

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It all began when the first "campmeeting" was held at Pleasant Grove in October, 1829, under a brush arbor. A few months later, the people decided to build a camp ground on this spot.  When the area was cleared off, the grove was so beautiful that it was called “Pleasant Grove.”

 

Matthew McCorkle gave a deed on March 26, 1830, for 24 acres of land to a group of nine trustees and their successors for the sum of $60.00.  The trustees were Arch Brown, Jack Starnes, William Irby, Peter Wolfe, Michael Polk, Robert Howey, Robert G. Howard, Thomas Winchester, and John Lawson.  In 1885, a deed was given for four more acres by J. C. Bates. Present acreage is approximately 40 acres.

 

The contract for building the arbor was given to John Rape.  Mr. Rape had agreed to do the work for $125.00.  This was not enough money to complete the arbor, even in those days, so his neighbors helped him to complete it.

 

Prior to the Civil War there were more than 200 tents (cabins) on the grounds.  Most of them were built of poles and hewed logs.  They had chimneys built of poles or board, and the cooking was done in fireplaces.  The lights were candles made by the women.   In the beginning there were five services in the arbor each day.  The last one continuing until about eleven o’clock.   Interest in the camp meeting began to lessen around 1900, and in 1902 the trustees ordered the camp meeting closed. All tents were torn down and moved away except one log tent, which remained on the grounds until 1992. 

 

After the camp had been closed for about ten years, the Rev. Henry Byrum became interested in reopening the camp meeting.  He encouraged this through newspaper articles. People became inspired and began building tents (cabins) again on the old campground.  Baxter F. Howie built the first tent. By 1935, there were 71 tents on the grounds.  After 1977, the number of tents on the grounds was 89, and this number remains the same today.

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During 1987–1990, restoration was done on the arbor to replace and repair deteriorating timbers on the outside perimeter, and the roof was covered with wooden shingles.  More than $60,000 was spent on this

restoration project.

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