Description
Summer Cottage Communities: Chautauquas, Camp Meetings and Spiritualist Camps by Peter Seibert
After the Civil War, as new modes of transportation began to reach the most remote places of the East Coast, newly termed “vacationers” began to escape the cities and spend their summers in the cooler locales of beaches and mountains. A growing American middle class demanding new leisure activities during the summer months gave rise to the cottage community. Designed as a unique community unto itself, with diverse architectural styles, cottage communities provided structured experiences for summer destinations. Tracing their roots from tent revivals and the Second Great Awakening, religious camp meetings centered activities on worship and spiritual discourse. Beginning in western New York, the Chautauqua movement was a series of educational retreats that featured presidential speakers and leading intellects of the day. Author Peter Swift Seibert takes readers on a historic walk through the legacy of some of the mid-Atlantic’s most tranquil summer cottage communities.
For more than 35 years, Peter Seibert has led museums and historical organizations across the United States. He was a member of the founding board of Mount Gretna Area Historical Society.
A portion of the sale of this book benefits the Mount Gretna Area Historical Society.