Goshen Scout Reservation

Goshen Scout Reservation
Owner National Capital Area Council
Location Goshen, Virginia
Lake Merriweather
Camp PMI
Camp Bowman
Goshen Dam
Camp Post
Camp Olmsted
Camp Ross
Camp Baird
Camp Marriott
Coordinates 37°58′01″N 79°28′10″W / 37.967°N 79.4695°W / 37.967; -79.4695
Camp size 4,000-acre (16 km2)
Founded 1967 (1967)
Website
www.ncacbsa.org/outdoors/goshen-camps/

Goshen Scout Reservation is a Boy Scout reservation designated to camping, swimming, hiking and other various activities. Goshen is home to six Boy Scouts of America resident summer camps located near Goshen, Virginia, and is owned and operated by the National Capital Area Council. The camps are all built around Lake Merriweather. First opened to Scouts in the summer of 1967, today it has six different camps covering over 4,000 acres (16 km2) of land.

History

In 1960, the National Capital Area Council purchased land that bordered the Goshen and Little North Mountain Wildlife Management Area and Little Calfpasture River outside of Goshen, Virginia for $300,000.[1] U.S. Steel public relations executive William G. Whyte helped acquire this tract of more than 4,000 acres (16 km2) for the scouts.[2] The 425 acres (1,720,000 m2) Lake Merriweather was created by damming the Little Calfpasture River in 1966,[1] before it joins with the Calfpasture to become the Maury, with a structure 38 feet (12 m) high and 1,300 feet (400 m) long.[3] Lake Merriweather was named for Marjorie Merriweather Post, an ardent supporter of Scouting in the Washington, DC area.[4]:51 The individual camps bear the names of other significant individuals or corporations who supported National Capital scouting as well. Camp Marriott owes its name to the Marriott International hospitality corporation while Camp PMI refers to Parking Management Incorporated (better known as PMI), a large parking company in the DC Metro region.

Features

Goshen borders portions of the George Washington National Forest and other state parks. The reservation is about a 45-minute drive southwest of Harrisonburg; and about a 30-minute drive northwest of Lexington. The town of Goshen itself lies approximately 3 miles to the west of the reservation.[5]:2753

A common occurrence at the Goshen Scout Reservation is a fly-over by Air Force or Navy aircraft as crews conduct practice bomb-runs on the Goshen Dam. Sighted planes include C-5 Galaxies, F-16 Fighting Falcons, F/A-18 Hornets, F-15E Strike Eagles, and a V-22 Osprey.

Facilities

Scout asking a question at a Goshen scout camp

Within Goshen there are three Boy Scout camps, two Cub Scout camps, and one high adventure camp.

High Adventure Camp

Camp Baird

Camp Baird is the base camp for the Lenhok'sin High Adventure program. Lenhok'sin offers "backpacking, caving, rappelling, horsemanship, black powder rile shooting, fishing, and canoeing"[6]:34 The backpacking typically takes five days to travel over the "rough terrain in the Alleghany Mountains."[7] Scouts can choose from a traditional backpacking trek, a Civil War week, a canoe trek, or a "COPE and Rope" trek. In a traditional trek scouts hike from outpost to outpost during the week and experience various activities with significance to history or high adventure sports. Scouts are on the trek from Monday morning to Friday afternoon. Throughout the week, crews may be found at the outposts, which are scattered around the reservation. LHA is recommended for scouts at or above the age of 13, and in decent physical condition.

Boy Scout Camps

Camp Bowman

Camp Bowman is a 1,200-acre (4.9 km2) camp for Boy Scouts and is differentiated from Camp Olmsted by the fact that Bowman scouts prepare their own meals using the patrol cooking method, rather than eating in a cafeteria setting. Camp Bowman is the only camp at the Goshen Scout Reservation that is run almost exclusively as a patrol cooking camp. Camp Bowman was the first camp to be built on the Goshen Scout Reservation hence their slogan, "Bowman, Bowman Number 1!" Camp Bowman is also the only camp to use its original camp sign. The camp is located directly across Lake Merriweather from Camp Olmsted.[8]:304 "Camp Bowman's entrance is just beyond the dam that compounds water for the lake."[8]:304

Camp Bowman has been teaching Scouting values for over forty years. Various mementos can be found in the Admin Building, including gifts from several foreign staff members who were part of an international camp staff exchange program as well as staff neckerchiefs from early camp years. Every staff photo is on display, along with photos from the first year camp was open, as well as the medal given to every camper from the inaugural year.

Camp Bowman is the only camp in Virginia with an action archery course, where scouts participate in shooting at aerial, moving ground, field, and long distance targets. In addition, Bowman is the only camp on Goshen Scout Reservation with a rabbit clay trap on their shotgun range.

Camp Marriott

Camp Marriott is one of the seven camps on the Goshen Scout Reservation. Most scouts who attend during summer months are between the ages of 11 and 15. Camp Marriott is well known for being one of the few scout camps left that continues the tradition of patrol cooking. However, to create ease for the scouts, heater stack meals are prepared in the camp kitchen to be picked up and prepared by the scouts at their own separate campsites.

Camp Marriott contains twelve campsites. There are two rifle pavilions, a shotgun range, and one archery range. The waterfront area is one of the largest on the lake, with close proximity to the administration building. Eagle Required Merit Badges are offered at the Eagle's Eyrie, including cooking. The Ecology area offers three separate teaching areas that immerse you in the outdoors, the Pan Zoological Park that is full of local flora and fauna, and a highly regarded nature trail. Camp Marriott has long running traditions, excellent program, physical layout, and a fair distance from Camp Post.

Camp Olmsted

Named after General George H. Olmsted, Camp Olmsted is unique among the Boy Scout camps on the lake in that it is the only one with a dining hall where troops and the staff take their meals. It also is the only camp on the lake with a Tech Center where technology related merit badges are taught. In addition to the Tech Center, the camp offers Shooting Sports, Handicraft, Ecology, Scoutcraft, Trailshead and Aquatics areas. A program that is unique to Camp Olmsted is the X-Pride program, which provides an opportunity for older scouts to participate in high-adventure activities while the younger scouts in their troop work on merit badges. X-pride scouts participate in activities such as rock climbing, GPS orienteering, and an overnight trip to Viewing Rock. In 2010, Olmsted introduced a new program area, Culturecraft, which focuses on Fine Arts Merit Badges such as Theater, Music, Art, Cinematography, Architecture, Sculpture, and Photography. The camp contains 20 camping sites, and one staff site. In addition, it is the only camp on the lake that offers over 60 merit badges; many of these not traditionally seen at a summer camp, such as Communications, Radio, and others in that sort of field. Olmsted is the largest camp in Goshen, not in amount of land, but number of scouts that attend and staff members.

Webelos camps

Camp PMI

Camp PMI

Camp P.M.I. is a camp for 9- to 10-year-old Webelos Cub Scouts located in the Shenandoah Valley near Goshen, Virginia, about 200 miles (320 km) from Washington, D.C. Every summer, 2000 scouts and leaders visit Camp P.M.I. for a week of adventure, hiking, and scouting.[9][10]

Camp Ross

Camp Ross is one of two Webelos camps at Goshen Scout Reservations. It is one of the newest camps on the lake having been closed after the 1978 camping season due to decreased overall Reservation attendance. Ross was reopened in 1981 as a Webelos camp and has operated as such until present day. The camp currently has 11 campsites but was originally built with 10, expanded to 12 and subsequently one was closed due to poor drainage. The camp takes a quite a large area at the entrance to Lake Merriweather where it is fed by the Half Calf Pasture River.[8]:304

The camp is the farthest one away from Camp Post. The campsites that the campers sleep in are arranged in arch formations around the central dining hall, staff site, shower house, and activity areas. The farthest site is site five which is about 3/4 of a mile walk from the center of camp. In the southwest corner of the camp there is a large white pine forest that was planted by scouts in the 1960s to reforest the area. Since the planting of the trees they have been logged at least once to thin out the underbrush. One can still follow the old logging road back into this area where it meets up with the Anderson trail which in turn goes all the way around the lake through all seven camps. The White Pine meets the lake at a very steep grade and one can look straight across and see the waterfront of Camp Marriott. Within the White Pine there is a cemetery containing four graves that date back to the 1850s although it is quite overgrown it is of much interest to many staffers and used as a topic for ghost stories with the scouts. The camp has several activity areas for the Webelos scouts including Aquatics, Scoutcraft, Nature, Handicraft, Archery, and BB Gun Shooting.

Other camps

Camp Post

Camp Post is the central administration area, home to several intercamp programs such as Project COPE. It includes a climbing tower and ropes course.[8]:286

Family Camp

Family Camp is a now unused camp which can be used upon request by individuals and groups. It is located almost directly across from Camp Ross waterfront and functions as the Camp Baird Waterfront as well as the Lenhok'sin Caving Outpost during the summer.[8]:107

The fictional character Kim Bauer wears a Goshen Boy Scout Reservation shirt during the first season of the drama 24.[11]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Capital Area Council.

References

  1. 1 2 "CHRONOLOGY OF CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE OF LAKE MERRIWEATHER AND GOSHEN DAM" (PDF) (Press release). Rockbridge Area Conservation Council. January 16, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  2. ↑ Bernstein, Adam (2010-04-27). "U.S. Steel executive and friend of President Ford". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C., United States. pp. –5. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  3. ↑ Associated Press. (2010-09-03). "Virginia Residents Worry About 'High Hazard' Dam". Claims Journal. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  4. ↑ Evans, Rick (Dec 2009). 50 Year Adventure. Rick Evans. ISBN 978-0-557-12732-0.
  5. ↑ Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress. 115. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1969.
  6. ↑ Boys' Life. Boy Scouts of America. Dec 1988.
  7. ↑ "Falls Church Scouts complete backpacking trek : Falls Church Times". Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Virginia Wildlife. Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries. 1970. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
  9. ↑ NCAC Official PMI Website
  10. ↑ PMI Staff Created Website: Lots of Info
  11. ↑ Kim Bauer in Goshen Scout Camps Shirt
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