Sandy Springs Camp Ground

Front: This Methodist camp ground, named for the large spring nearby, dates to 1828, when a fifteen-acre site was purchased from Sampson Pope for $45. Early meetings were under a brush arbor until a central wooden shelter and cabins were built about 1838. Entire families participated in revival meetings, held here for two weeks every September until the last camp meeting in 1897. Reverse: Col. James L. Orr's 1st Regt. S.C. Rifles (Orr's Rifles) was organized here on July 20, 1861, in a field adjoining the Sandy Springs camp ground. Ten companies—four from Pickens, three from Abbeville, two from Anderson, and one from Marion District—trained at Camp Pickens before serving first on the S.C. coast and then in Va. Veterans held annual reunions here for many years.