Historical Marker
Bloys Camp Meeting
Historical marker location:
SH 166, Fort Davis vicinity, Texas
( take SH 17 S approx. 2 miles to SH 166; then W on SH 166 approx. 23 miles)
Marker installed: 1966
Held each year since 1890. Founded by Rev. W. B. Bloys, a Presbyterian. His camp pulpit was an Arbuckle Coffee crate. First campers, 48 people from remote ranches and towns, slept in tents, wagons. Family groups had chuck-box meals, sharing with guests. Some 1,500 attend mid-August meetings today. Still nothing is ever sold in camp.
Baptists, Disciples of Christ, Methodists and Presbyterians incorporated the Cowboys' Camp Meeting in 1902. Site, Skillman Grove, has been a camp ground since the 1850s. Elevation is about 6,000 feet.