Camp meeting cottages usually began as canvas tents supported by wooden frames, on plots that were rented out by the Camp Meeting Association. In fact, an 1854 book, the “Camp Meeting Manual” recommends a 12’ x 12’ tent for individual family use, and a 20’ x 30’ tent for a “Society” tent (for multiple families coming to the Camp Meeting through their church community). The tents were built upon platforms, and eventually walls, roofs, second stories, and extensions were added. The stumps of the trees which were felled to make a tent plot often became supports under a platform, which eventually became the foundation for a cottage.

The light framing of 19th century balloon construction lent itself to these rustic cottages, designed only for summer use, and usually only for sleeping, as most gatherings and meals took place in a communal setting.

The simple but elegant wooden cottage designs of architects like Andrew Jackson Downing in the 1850’s were perfectly suited to these small scale buildings, where a gabled front could be adorned by Gothic Revival windows and decorative trim, porches and verandas created airy gathering spaces, and the vertical sheathing of inexpensive board-and-batten gave an added illusion of height.