The Tents in Ocean GroveEach of the tent homes is constructed on a wooden platform. The largest is about 13 feet by 18 feet, with a canvas section attached to a permanent wooden structure housing the kitchen and bathroom. In front of the canvas section, there is a narrow porch, often covered by an awning and sporting an American flag.“I get the vacuuming done in three minutes,” Walsh says. “It takes two minutes to water the garden.”The tents encircle the Great Auditorium—a 6,000-seat structure for religious services, dating back to 1894—creating a mini-city, with narrow streets for pedestrians only. The tents are largely used by seasonal congregants, some of whom are families with small children. Some have had tent leases in their families for four generations.During the summer, the front porches are draped in petunias, impatiens, and ferns. At the end of the summer, the plants are taken down, the goldfish that were in the temporary ponds are given away, and the tents are closed up for the season, leaving just a platform, a wood storage shed for the furniture, and a couple of wooden poles out front.
