The Northern NeXus Of Adventure | Page 15

CAMPING WITH THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE

Help Us Keep The Spirit Alive

The BSA was still in its infancy in 1912 when Scouts in our area set up the first council camp in the Blue Hills Reservation . Boston Council and New England Council had received their charters the year before and it would be some time before local councils would be organized . This camp in the Blue Hills was a challenge to get off the ground but it drew Scouts not only from the greater Boston area but from as far away as Portland , Maine . They were drawn to the camp by their Spirit of Adventure .
As local Scouting territories began to be formed , Scouts found adventures at council camps . Some of these camps were located on council-owned lands while others were on public lands , private estates or were leased . Many early camps were close to home but some were set up at some distance away requiring train rides or long drives on windy roads . These camps faced many challenges that our camp leaders of today face such as attendance , staffing , finances and meeting standards . Many others faced extreme challenges such as forest fires , how to operate during the war years , building a complete infrastructure , and even organized gang activities .
The Key Foundation is writing a book about the Spirit of Adventure ' s proud history of Scout camping . TL Storer , Wah-Tut-Ca , Lone Tree and Sayre are part of a great tradition that should be remembered , honored and celebrated . The book will show a picture of our Scout camps through the years and the great Scouters who helped make each camp possible .
We can gather the facts and general information , but we will need your help to make the book more complete . We need your photos and stories of the camps you grew up in and cherish . Send scanned pictures or scanned images of camp memorabilia to me at cmahaleris @ gmail . com . Include information such as date , location , and who is in the picture if you can . The more complete , the better . But also provide a couple sentences about what made your camp experience richer- what did your camp do that made a lasting impact on your life .
That make-shift camp cobbled together on public lands in the Blue Hills Reservation does not exist anymore , but it was the starting point for more than 100 years of Scout camping adventures for our 76 cities and towns . We owe a debt we can never fully repay to the Scouters who organized that first camp and every one that followed it . Our goal is for this book to do justice to the efforts of all of those Scouters .