Stittsville Campgrounds - Stittsville, Ontario - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

The campgrounds have been replaced by a soccer field and Alexander Grove's second baseball park. Remnants of the campgrounds are visible in aerial photographs from the 1970s. The chapel and the swimming pool are now backyards of homes on Forest Heights Avenue.

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Stittsville Campgrounds 1898-1974 You are standing on the former 30-acre site of one of Canada’s largest and most widely known religious meeting grounds which between 1898 and 1974, became a memorable part of the lives of thousands of people and impacted the development of evangelical Christianity throughout Canada. The Holiness Movement In 1898, four Stittsville residents bought land from Andrew Alexander between Manchester Street and Poole Creek in trust for the Holiness Movement Church to be used for its outdoor religious meetings and for its Annual and General Meetings. Delegates came from across Canada and from the mission field in China, Ireland and Egypt.
By 1918, the Stittsville site was the largest camp in the Holiness Movement Church, drawing hundreds every summer. Most stayed in tents among the trees at the campgrounds. Singing filled the air on summer evenings. Gradually some permanent buildings were erected such as a house of worship and a dining hall. Some families built their own cottages and stayed all summer. Mapledene Youth Camp A Holiness youth camp started by Rev. Charles McFarlane and Rev. Alton Gould in Brockville, moved to the Stittsville campgrounds in 1948. The Mapledene Youth Camp flourished in Stittsville, drawing young people from Western Quebec, Upper New York State, Ottawa, Richmond, Stittsville, North Gower, the Ottawa Valley and other areas of Ontario.
In 1959 the Holiness Movement Church merged with the Free Methodist Church and in 1961 new washrooms, showers and an outdoor swimming pool were built at the camp. The pool was opened to Stittsville residents in 1967. The camp finally closed in 1974 when it was moved to Wesley Acres Methodist camp in Bloomfield, Ontario.

Erected by the Goulbourn Township Historical Society 2013

Group that erected the marker: Goulbourn Township Historical Society URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: 10 Warner-Colpitts Lane Stittsville, ON Canada

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Date Logged Log   11/18/2021 yukonshawn visited it