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(Expanded) Early History of Orange Boy Scout Troop No. 1, 1915-1918 – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian Author's Note: An earlier version of this essay was first published in the Spring 2018 edition of the Orange County Historical Society's newsletter, the Record (Vol. 49, No. 1). The essay is reprinted here in its entirety with several content updates and revisions based on new research over…
From Tenderfoot Scout to “Mr. Scout” – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Asst. Southern Region-Area 7 Commissioner This essay presents a brief biographical sketch of John Wilford Fix of Bristol, Tennessee, and later Staunton, Virginia, and how he influenced the young Boy Scouts of American (BSA) organizations in these cities. His volunteer and professional careers in Scouting spanned 43 years, and he made an…
Boy Scouts Counting the Critters and Killing Flies in 1912 – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Assistant Southern Region-Area 7 Commissioner from Virginia Health Bulletin, June 1912 During the formative years of the Scouting movement, local Boy Scout leaders across the Commonwealth of Virginia (and other regions in which Scouting was active) sought ways to demonstrate the practical utility and benefit of organized troops of boys engaging in…
Camp Stonewall on Buffalo Creek, 1929 – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian Headline Announcing Camp Stonewall (from The News Leader, June 22, 1929) After the formation of the Stonewall Jackson Council (later renamed the Stonewall Jackson Area Council, and now the Virginia Headwaters Council) in January 1927, the need arose for the council to provide its own long-term summer camp.…
Five Deaf Eagle Scouts in Virginia – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind (VSDB) was established by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on March 31, 1838 and officially opened in 1839. It is located on a 73-acre tract in historic Staunton, Virginia in the Great Valley of Virginia, and it…
Boy Scouting Begins in Waynesboro, Virginia – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian and Asst. Southern Region-Area 7 Commissioner Within a few years after the incorporation of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in 1910, the Scouting movement rapidly took hold in Waynesboro and the adjacent Basic City (formerly Waynesboro Junction) in eastern Augusta County. Basic City would, in 1923, be…
Boy Scouting in Gordonsville, Virginia, 1914-1931 – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian The Boy Scout movement was incorporated quickly after 1910 in the urban centers of Virginia's Commonwealth (e.g., Staunton-1911; Richmond-1913; Charlottesville-1914; Newport News-1913; and Petersburg-1914, to name a few). Likewise Scouting in the rural towns and counties of Virginia also quickly developed a strong foothold within a few years…
The Diamond Jubilee of the First African-American Eagle Scout in Stonewall Jackson Area Council – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian **RECENTLY SELECTED BY FEEDSPOT AS ONE OF THE TOP 35 AMERICAN HISTORY BLOGS ON THE WEB AT HTTPS://BLOG.FEEDSPOT.COM/AMERICAN_HISTORY_BLOGS/** Seventy-five years ago, the first award of the Eagle Scout rank in the Stonewall Jackson Area Council (now Virginia Headwaters Council) to a black Boy Scout occurred in the fall of 1947 to…
Review of Eagle Scouts in Orange County, Virginia, 1934-1970 – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian **Recently selected by Feedspot as one of the Top 35 American History Blogs on the web at https://blog.feedspot.com/american_history_blogs/** This blog began in 2019 with a focus on Scouting history in Orange County, Virginia, and its surroundings. It would not be complete without attention being duly given to the Eagle Scouts…
Wineites vs. Jacksonites: Boy Scouting Begins in Harrisonburg, Virginia – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian Boy Scouting in Harrisonburg, Virginia is older than in many other localities in the Commonwealth where Scouting has early roots. The first Boy Scout troop in Harrisonburg was led by Scoutmaster Daniel P. Wine and Assistant Scoutmaster Clyde C. Peters (both were railroad mail clerks), and was established…
Central Virginia Boy Scouts Answer the Call to Colors, 1917-1918 – Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian Leaders and youth of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) are widely known for providing praiseworthy service on America's homefront during the years that the United States was involved in the Great War (a.k.a. World War I), during 1917-1918. However both boy scouts and adult leaders also answered…