Brownsea II

This summer, the reservation is rolling out a program titled “Brownsea.” This is the newest incarnation of the First Year Camper Program, which dates back to 1993. This new version will be for both camps and the instruction in Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class skills (along with Scouting Heritage merit badge!) will be held at Camp Beany Elam, the old home of Wood Badge.

But Brownsea has historically meant something completely different. Throughout its history in Scouting, “Brownsea” has been a youth leadership training program. Now known as National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT), Brownsea has often been held at Boxwell after the traditional summer camp season ended.

Seen here is one of the earlier versions of Brownsea, specifically Brownsea II (pronounced “Brownsea Double 2”). Several camp staff greats were involved with this incarnation at the same time, including Russ Parham, Jack Holt, and Perry Bruce. Seen here are Steve Eubank (left) and Jerry Barnett (right) as Scouts cross a monkey bridge of their own making.

For other Brownsea related posts, follow these links:
http://virtualboxwell.org/v3/blog/2019/12/22/from-the-archives-december-22-2019/
http://virtualboxwell.org/v3/blog/2017/10/08/from-the-archives-october-8-2017/
http://virtualboxwell.org/v3/blog/2017/10/01/from-the-archives-october-1-2017/
http://virtualboxwell.org/v3/blog/2014/09/28/from-the-archives-september-28-2014/

Collection of Perry Bruce

The First COPE Tower

COPE today is full fledged program. It was made possible by the financial contributions of Billy Walker and the efforts of quite a few people, including Lance Ussery, Al Hendrickson, John Hickman, and Bill Freeman.

But before the Al Hendrickson Tower was built (the big one that stands today), rappelling was done on a much smaller tower. Lance Ussery describes this original tower as “Maybe 40 feet to the top. It may have been a 35 foot wall.” Open on three sides with only one climbing wall, the original tower operated throughout the 1980s.

Seen here is the original rappelling tower, located in the grassy area down from the compound before the Beany Elam Parking area. The tower is gone now, but if you look, you can find the stumps of the telephones that made up the corners. This image is from the 1984 Leaders’ Guide, the year after COPE became a full fledged program and not just a rappelling activity.

Collection of Russ Parham

All Tied Up

Sometimes you just gotta tie someone up in rope. It’s just one of those things.

While hazing is frowned up today, it probably won’t come as a surprise to most that there was a variety of pranks pulled on individuals on the camp staff. Sometimes these were things that everyone could laugh at; sometimes they really weren’t. Pranks could often be dismissed as bonding or letting off steam. Whether the prank was “okay” or not really came down to the receiving party: how did they take it?

In this example, Robert Barnard is tied up in some manilla rope in the Activity Yard Staff site at Parnell in 1993. Judging by the look on his face–and the fact he was a fourth year staff member at this point–Barnard is taking one for the team. Sometimes just laughing it off is the best way to pull folks together.

Collection of Grady Eades