Noonday Holiness Camp Interdenominational

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Harrison County, there's a place that's been calling people together since 1897, and it did not start quietly. Six men, early civic leaders, businessmen and landowners, got together and founded what would become the Noonday Holiness Camp Interdenominational.

Their names deserve saying out loud: J. M. Black, T.

P. Black, F. E.

Dickard, J. B. LaGrone, J.

J. Koon, and G. B.

Richardson. Six men with a vision, and they moved fast. Now, in those first two years, there was no grand building waitin' on them.

No, the first two annual camp meetings were held under brush arbors. Open air, sky above, Texas summer all around. And the land those arbors sat on?

That came from generous souls: Mrs. Alfred Beaty, and three gentlemen named Will Schaffer, Will Brazzil, and G. W.

Croft. Donated ground, a handful of founders, and brush overhead. That is how you start something.

Then came 1900, and they built a tabernacle right there on site. Permanent now. And when it was time for services, they did not send a letter.

They rang a plantation bell. You could hear that thing roll across the countryside, and people knew. They came from near and far, and I mean that literally.

In the early days, guests arrived by special trains. Special trains. Somebody looked at this camp meeting and said, we need to run extra rail service for this.

That is not a small gathering. That is an event. Today the camp is controlled by a board of managers who maintain the facilities and conduct the business, keeping the whole thing running just as those six founders intended.

From brush arbors to a tabernacle, from donated land to special trains, the Noonday Holiness Camp has been doing what it set out to do since eighteen ninety-seven. Some bells, once rung, just keep on ringing.

What the marker says

Founded in 1897 by J. M. Black, T. P. Black, F. E. Dickard, J. B. LaGrone, J. J. Koon and G. B. Richardson, early civic leaders who were businessmen and landowners. The first two annual camp meetings were held under brush arbors on site given by Mrs. Alfred Beaty and Messrs. Will Schaffer, Will Brazzil and G. W. Croft. Tabernacle was built here in 1900. A plantation bell announced services. In early days, guests came by special trains. Camp is controlled by a board of managers who maintain the facilities and conduct business.