Summer Cottage Communities: Chautauquas, Camp Meetings and Spiritualist Camps - Paperback

by Peter Swift Seibert (Author), Jane Swift Seibert (Photographer)

Summer at the Cottage/

By the 1890s, a newly rising middle class found itself having time, money, and access to begin taking vacations. Church denominations began creating summer cottage communities that combined natural settings and intellectual and spiritual pursuits. The first communities were the Chautauquas, where lectures on philosophy, science or politics were offered. For the devout, there were Camp Meetings where one attended purely for religious instruction. Spiritualist camps were among the rarest and incorporated séances to talk to your dead ancestors./While attending programs, families could engage in outdoor recreation and craft classes. Tents were first used for accommodations but were quickly replaced by wooden frame cottages in Victorian, Arts and Crafts and Adirondack styles. By 1900, more than 300 cottage communities existed and were found throughout the United States with the majority in the Mid-Atlantic.Join author Peter Seibert as he reveals the beauty, history and influence of summer cottage communities of the Mid-Atlantic.

Author Biography

Peter Swift Seibert is the CEO and president of the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he began his career in museums as executive director for the Historical Society of Dauphin County and later CEO of the Heritage Center of Lancaster County. Over the next fifteen years, he also was an adjunct faculty member at Penn State University and the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design and wrote two books.