Those on the inside can’t fully explain it and those on the outside can’t fully understand it. “It’s hard to explain to people when you tell people what you are doing this week,” said Michael Garrett. ”You don’t get the full experience unless you stay the whole time.” After 186 years of history and community, campmeeting in Dawson County draws families that have spent a week at Lumpkin Campground across the street from Bethel United Methodist Church on Lumpkin Campground Rd., since before the Civil War.