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Here is some information about how Scouting got it's start and how it became part of the American landscape!


The Father of The Boy Scouts Worldwide:

ROBERT BADEN-POWELL- Born in London, England in 1857, Robert loved outdoor play and reading. He was also a good actor and gifted artist who was able to draw with EITHER hand!

Only 19 years old when he joined the British Army, Baden-Powell was a sub-lieutenant when he set sail with his regiment for India.

Over the next 34 years, Robert Baden-Powell was a soldier in various campaigns. During the time he served in Africa (where England had several colonies), Baden-Powell learned to admire the Zulu Warriors. Later, he borrowed their left-handed handshake for his Boy Scouts.

Robert wrote several manuals for the Army on various subjects including spying and survival.

After a successful campaign in a town called Mafeking where his tactical skill and ability to trick the enemy proved to be successful with his force of 1,000 holding off an army of 9,000 Boers (these were Dutch colonists who resisted the British rule), Baden-Powell returned home to England to find that he was wildly popular and a hero.

Boys in England were using his manual "Aids to Scouting" to train themselves. Some people pursuaded Baden-Powell to use the skill he had developed to train the boys.

In the summer of 1907, the first summer camp was held at Brownsea Island off England's southern coast. 22 Scouts attended the 2-week event learning about camping skills, first aid, lifesaving, and nature lore.

The first Scout handbook was published in 1908 and was called "Scouting for Boys". Baden-Powell wrote and illustrated it himself.

The book became a best seller. Troops sprang up all over England. Soon, troops were in Canada and the United States of America.

On February 8, 1910, The Boy Scouts of America was officially started. WILLIAM D. BOYCE signed the papers that created the organization in America.

Boyce had first heard of Scouting in August of 1909 when he was in London, England. He was lost in a fog and a boy guided him to where he wanted to go.

The boy refused a tip because, he said, "Scouts do not accept tips for courtesies or Good Turns."

Because of the example of that Scout, Boyce learned all he could about Scouting. After he got home, he incorporated the BSA as an organization. Boyce had little to do with the program itself.

ERNEST THOMPSON SETON lived in Canada most of his life. He enjoyed life on his Canadian prairie farm. Seton had a sstrong imagination and was an artist and naturalist. He became famous in the United States as a lecturer on nature and as a wildlife artist.

He wrote and illustrated many books on animals and American Indian life.

DANIEL CARTER BEARD had a fun filled boyhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. His ideal men were the frontiersmen who blazed the trails for settlers - men such as Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Simon Kenton and Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman).

He was a surveyor and mapmaker and later became an author and illustrator for books and magazines.

Beard published his most popular book "The American Boy's Handbook" in 1882. It was full of ideas for swimming, camping, boat building, fishing and making snow forts.

JAMES E. WEST was a genius at organization although he had absolutely no appeal to the boys in scouting. But his contributions as a specialist in organizing and planning was more important to the fledgling group.

He earned a law degree as a young man after a childhood in an orphanage where he contracted tuburculosis. It was this and other difficult childhood circumstances that made him tough and resilient.

Each of the men here repreesent a different piece of the Scouting puzzle. Without their leadership and strength at the right time, scouting could not have survived and grown to be the vibrant organization it is in the nation today.


{Special thanks to the Boys' Life Magazine September 1994 issue for the information in this section!}

No organization is stronger than it's weakest member!

SCOUTING FUN!

Woodcarving: Making a cool neckerchief slide!

Summer Camp!

Merit Badges and skills are combined with a lot of good, clean fun!

Our Meetings:

WEDNESDAYS 6:30 pm until 8 pm

1716 West Market Street

contact: eagle1@pclnet.net
for our Scoutmaster!


Council Office for the Northern Service Area:

Scout Office
2211 Drake Avenue S.W.
Huntsville, Al 35804

1-256-883-7071

We'll put our address and directions to our office here. We might also include a MapQuest Web Gem to display a map to our office.