Rev. Ira Walker and Orcelia (Barnes) Walker
In April 1875, the Rev. Ira Taylor Walker, then pastor of the Adams Avenue
Methodist Episcopal Church in Scranton, was chosen as the Wyalusing District's
Presiding Elder of the church's Wyoming Conference. He immediately went about
putting into place all of the things that would permanently relocate the
Wyalusing District's camp meeting site to Dimock, a site his predecessor, the
Rev. Luther peck, apparently had a hand in selecting. As Presiding Elder,
Walker oversaw the first three camp meetings at Dimock in 1875, 1876 and 1877.
He wrote: "Only a few weeks ago I entered the Dimmick [sic] Grove where a Camp
meeting will soon be held. How forcibly I was impressed with the
appropriateness of the place for the beginnings of a Christian life. There,
the beautiful shade and the streaming sun-rays which upturned the graceful
leaves and danced forth to play with the shrubbery and grasses. There, under
those grand old trees, can there be found a better altar?" (Aug. 11, 1875)