Bloys Camp Meeting

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, friend, and it's a good one. Out here in Jeff Davis County, up at Skillman Grove, there's a patch of ground that's been drawing people in since the 1850s. Six thousand feet above sea level, the air's clear, the sky's wide, and something about this place just made folks want to stop and stay a while.

Now by 1890, a Presbyterian minister named Reverend W. B. Bloys had an idea.

He was going to hold a camp meeting right here. And he did. Forty-eight people showed up that first time: ranchers, townsfolk, folks who had ridden in from remote corners of this big lonesome country.

They slept in tents. They slept in wagons. And when it came time to eat, the family groups set up their chuck-box meals and shared what they had with whoever was around.

No fuss about it. That's just how it was done. Now, Reverend Bloys preached from a pulpit.

And that pulpit (are you ready for this) was an Arbuckle Coffee crate. Not a carved oak lectern. Not a gilded stand.

An Arbuckle Coffee crate. Out here, you work with what the land gives you, and apparently what the land gave Reverend Bloys was a sturdy box and something worth saying. The meeting took root.

By 1902, the Baptists, the Disciples of Christ, the Methodists, and the Presbyterians came together and formally incorporated it; the Cowboys' Camp Meeting, they called it. Four denominations, one grove, no argument about it. And here's the thing that'll stick with you: to this day, still nothing is ever sold in camp.

Not a thing. In a world where somebody's always got a hand out, Skillman Grove just doesn't work that way. These days, some fifteen hundred people attend the mid-August meetings.

Fifteen hundred, up from forty-eight souls in tents and wagons. Held every single year since 1890. The crate is gone, but the meeting isn't.

What the marker says

Held each year since 1890. Founded by Rev. W. B. Bloys, a Presbyterian. His camp pulpit was an Arbuckle Coffee crate. First campers, 48 people from remote ranches and towns, slept in tents, wagons. Family groups had chuck-box meals, sharing with guests. Some 1,500 attend mid-August meetings today. Still nothing is ever sold in camp. Baptists, Disciples of Christ, Methodists and Presbyterians incorporated the Cowboys' Camp Meeting in 1902. Site, Skillman Grove, has been a camp ground since the 1850s. Elevation is about 6,000 feet.