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The Wheeling Camp Meeting or Wheeling Fair

The Wheeling Camp Meeting or Wheeling Fair, as it was called by some was always held in August and went on for 10 days or two weeks. The wooden sign I found and preserved said” Wheeling Fair August 10 – 24”, all of the people I talked to seemed to remember that was about the time it was scheduled each year. The Camp Meeting was held in August when crops were laid by and people could have some time to come to Wheeling to visit relatives and friends.

Abby Dillon remembers that Wheeling was full of people during Camp Meeting time and that Billy Stiles could sit on the bench at Gaston’s Store and if he ever saw your license plate number he could remember it any time he was ask. He mentioned Front Row Billy Caniff and Sunday School Ellie were regular attenders at Camp Meeting.

My mother, Isabel Kolb remembers going to Camp Meeting with her sisters and cousins. Mother and her cousin Aldythe Clem Smith remember the mosquitoes that came up from the Patoka River.

Rosemary Clem and Dottie Young talked about seeing friends and relatives that didn’t live in this area at Camp Meeting. They mentioned that the preacher and his family stayed in a tent on the Camp Meeting grounds.

Uncle Chester Kolb, the family historian, remembers many people scheduled their family vacation around the Wheeling Camp Meeting. He said people from St. Louis and other far away places would be home for family reunions during Camp Meeting days. Uncle Chester said you could see just about anyone who had ever lived in the Wheeling area during Camp Meeting days. I ask why the Camp Meeting grounds were located on the low ground near the Patoka River, but he could only guess the it was property too low for farming and just across the river from Wheeling. Uncle Chester remembers the crowds in Wheeling and across the river at the Camp Meeting grounds. Uncle Will Hart was always teased about being “rocked out of Wheeling”, a ritual local boys had of throwing rocks at a person or group until they left Wheeling through the covered bridge. Uncle Will admitted that they threw rocks at him, but he didn’t run and he was ready to go home anyway.

I can remember the tent was large and the campgrounds were always well taken care of, grass mowed and neat in appearance. The campgrounds had plenty of parking right there near the tent. In the latter days of the Wheeling Camp Meeting it was moved to open area between the church and the community center, probably fewer Mosquitoes, but then again Yellow Creek runs just behind this area.

My brothers, cousins and I walked to Wheeling a time or two during Camp Meeting, but I’m sorry to report that we did not attend the Camp Meeting services. We did buy candy at Gaston’s Store and visit with friends.