Jet Potter Ground-breaking

The 1972 Capital Development Campaign was a big one. It was not only responsible for Camp Craig, but the Health Lodge, the cabins at Murrey (now CubWorld), the program directors’ cabins, and improvements at Rock Island and the Narrows. It was also responsible for the construction of the Jet Potter Center.

A new Scout Center had been under discussion for quite some time. At least as early as 1966, Akers and the Executive Board were discussing the idea and looking for land to build it. The current site was purchased in January 1967. The land was fairly cheap, but the land was not the office and that was going to require a larger chunk of money. Hence, the Council office became part of the Capital Campaign in 1972.

By 1975, everything was in place. The property was purchased, plans were made (and rejected), and a contractor hired. And then, finally, on Friday, May 29, 1975, ground breaking ceremonies were held.

Seen here is a photo from those festivities. From left to right are Council President C. A. “Neil” Craig, son of Edwin W. Craig, Webb Follin, Jr., Chair of the New Scout Service Center Committee, Anne Potter Wilson, daughter of Jet Potter, and, of course, Council Executive Ward Akers. Anne and her husband David Wilson ran the Jet Potter Foundation, the major contributor to the Scout Center.

Ground-breaking for Jet Potter Service Center on Hillsboro Road, May 29, 1975

The Murrey Bell

Have you ever wandered around the CubWorld dining hall and noticed that large silver bell next the loading dock? What is that bell there for? Good question!

In “the old days,” the bell was used at Camp Murrey as a bugle replacement. While Stahlman and Parnell had buglers as part of their staffs, Murrey did not. The bell thus served in that role to notify families of the daily schedule, such as meal times.

Cindy Human, one of the daughters of Reservation Director Ed Human (1970-1975), explained it this way: “[T]hey had big dinner bell right outside the back steps of the Murrey dining hall, and they rang that at I don’t know, seven o’clock in the morning. That was your wake up call. The bell rang to wake up and then 30 minutes later it ring again telling you you had like 10 minutes for breakfast, and then it would ring when you could come into the dining hall to eat breakfast…. It became the dinner bell [too]. They would ring that and then they would ring it 30 minutes before lunch, and then when it was time to go in… because they would keep the doors locked while they were setting the tables and everything. And then once they had everything ready they’d ring the bell again and we’d go in for lunch and then the same thing for dinner.”

Pictured here is the bell in the modern day. Like the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, it is mostly there for show today, but there was a time when it served a more glorious function!

The bell at Murrey Dining Hall, located right next to the loading dock.

New Traditions

Boxwell is steeped in traditions. Some traditions fade away, others stay across generations. But what if you had the opportunity to make wholly new traditions from scratch? This is the reality that CubWorld staffs have been faced with for some time. With a quarter century under it’s belt now, the newest camp at Boxwell is sometimes still not seen as a co-equal staff or program by it’s “bigger brothers.” Nevertheless, these are Scouts on a Scout camp staff and they are making traditions all their own.

A simple tradition is recognizing their own staff. As the Boy Scout camps have noted for some time, that year’s staff is only together once and never again. CubWorld takes that idea to the next level and memorializes that year’s staff. This is done by staff made “plaques” that hang in the dining hall, right alongside the National Camp School Inspection pennants. Every year a new marker is added to the wall, taking note of all the staff from that summer. What happens when that wall fills? A new tradition will be born…

Seen here is one of the very first of these plaques, this one created by Program Director Dominick Azzara. The “Zulu Shield” motif fit with the “Jungle Book” theme the camp was using that summer and that idea of theme related plaques continues to this day.

A Memorial for the 2007 CubWorld Staff, created by Program Director Dominick Azzara.