Craigville History Overview
An Introduction to Craigville History Materials
Craigville’s 150th Anniversary presents an opportunity for the community to remember its past as it plans for the future. Since Summer 2021, a special task force has taken several steps to assist the Craigville community in understanding its history.
A New Craigville Archive
The first project was to develop an archive to supplement the existing archive covering 1872-1975 that is located in the Congregational Library in Boston (see https://www.congregationallibrary.org/finding-aids/CraigvilleMAChristianCamp1099 ).
Lucy Loomis, director of Barnstable’s Sturgis Library, was hired to sort through hundreds of documents, photos and other materials located in file cabinets, attics, and basements throughout the village. Also, Skye Fackre Gibson digitized more than 1,000 photos, many of them from the early 20th century. We are now determining a permanent location for the new archive. Ideally the location will be accessible year-round to the Craigville community and housed with appropriate temperature and humidity controls.
A New Craigville Historical Timeline
In her two volumes on Craigville history, Marion Vuilleumier published two Craigville “historical timelines” which were in need of updating. We have drawn from her earlier histories and from archival material to illustrate many of the events listed on the updated timeline.
View Craigville Historical Timeline
Profiles of Persons Who Have Shaped Craigville Over the Years
An ongoing project will present brief profiles, often with supplementary material, of individuals and families have who have contributed to today’s Craigville. We will be adding additional profiles in the months and years to come. Criteria for inclusion are (a)the persons (or families) have made substantial contributions to the development of Craigvile as a community, not persons who have simply passed through for a summer visit; (b)those profiled have been deceased for five years or more.
View Profiles of Persons Who Have Shaped Craigville Over the Years
Photo Gallery
Most of the photographs on craigville.org are from the CCMA archive now housed at Sturgis Library in Barnstable. These include collections from the Buffington, Tillinghast, Chase and Giffin families assembled over the years by James Buffington and Jim Lane and digitized by Skye Fackre Gibson.
Craigville Historical Fragments
Craigville life has been recorded by various parties. These include several publications of and about the General Convention of Christian Churches, including The Herald of Gospel Liberty, published by-weekly from 1808 to 1930, the Craigville Chronicle and its predecessor, The Craigville Visitor. These sources include detailed descriptions of the early camp meetings. Various local newspapers have also given attention to Craigville. Many of these resources are now available in digital form on various internet sites, but they not easily found. We have now assembled about fifty pages of text from these publications. In addition, former CCMA president James Buffington undertook a project in the 1970s that included a review of CCMA board minutes and treasurer’s reports back to 1872 and other material. That study was typed on both side of onion-skin paper and has deteriorated over the years so we have had it retyped.
View Historical Fragment PDF
Historical Task Force:
Rev. Ed Deyton, chair; Amelia Brown, Skye Fackre Gibson, Sean Lahey, Jim Lane, Alison Melavalin, Bill McKinney, Linda McKinney