Rock Island Road

It’s a simple photo, but one that depicts a common sight at the time. This is the road at Rock Island Boxwell sometime in the 1950s. Scouts are travelling the dirt road on their way to sessions or perhaps to the Commissary. So common a sight was this that this very photo was included in the 1959 Capital Campaign literature to promote the new Boxwell at Old Hickory Lake.

In contrast to most of our other photos of Rock Island Boxwell, the Scouts here are full uniform. Thus, the photo was either of boys on the way to an assembly or the photo was staged for promotional purposes. As the photo has some writing in the bottom right corner (it appears to be 2 3/4″ #6), our money is on promotional photo.

The main road at Rock Island Boxwell, ca. 1959. Cooper-Ragsdale Collection.

The Wooden Stage

There was a period in the 1980s through the 1990s when the Stahlman Friday Night Campfire stage was built completely of cross-ties. As Andy Whitt described it in a 1983 interview, “In ’83 we had a crappy metal stage and I don’t even know what structure it was, but the metal was starting to curl up. It was really dangerous. It’d get slick too if it had been raining any. It was that way in ’83 and ’84. It was ‘85 that we built that stage.”

Long-time Program Director Ernie Ragsdale masterminded the stage. After getting the ties to the site, which was itself an ordeal as the ties were not typical landscape ties at 12-15 feet long and a foot and a half wide, Ragsdale would direct his vision. Ties were cut to various lengths and three pyramid like structures were built in the back, which became the back supports. The stage itself was one tie deep, but about twenty wide. A small set of stairs was built in the back. No railing. No concrete. No nails.

Here is the Stahlman staff prepping for a campfire in 1996. Garry Shores sits at the table in the middle. The ties are a big ragged, but still hanging in there 11 years later. The stage burned down in the early 2000s.

Stahlman’s Friday Night Campfire stage, made of large wooden crossties, 1996. Photo by Alex Cox.

Murrey Dining Hall

Before there was CubWorld, there was Camp Murrey. Murrey was the family camp that opened in 1960 as one of the original camps on the reservation. Married staff and staff with children stayed here as well as families of leaders.

The dining hall was the center of activity. Not only were meals held here, but so too were a variety of activities, such as handicraft and leatherwork.

This photo of the dining hall was part of camp promotion slideshow from the late 1970s. The dining hall would be renovated in 1994-95 as part of the CubWorld transformation, but you can see the original building’s size here. AND you see that the building was surrounded by trees! Council Executive Ward Akers was almost fanatical that as little of the existing fauna be damaged as possible whenever construction happened on the reservation.

Camp Murrey Dining Hall, c. 1977. Note the trees! Collection of Howard Olson.

OA Membership

The Nashville Council’s OA Lodge, Wa-Hi-Nasa, was founded at the Narrows of the Harpeth Boxwell in 1938. Eight members formed the nucleus of the chapter, five youth (Roy Shaub, Hilary Osborn, O. E. Brandon, Jr., Lynn Farrar, Forest Glascow) and three adults (James Gribble, W. J. Anderson, and Tillman Newsum).

The induction ceremonies were held on May 21, 1938. Summer camp started about a month later on June 20 and ran for eight weeks. The Lodge would be significant players over the next several years, bringing Native Americans activities and “ordeals” to summer. Some ceremonies were held near remains of the Montgomery Bell mansion, while others were held on the bluffs the Harpeth surrounded.

Shown here is the original 1938 Order of the Arrow membership card of founding Member, O. E. Brandon. Brandon would return to Boxwell in 1939 as an Eagle Scout and a Junior Leader, part of the youth staff.

The OA Membership card of O. E. Brandon, 1938. Collection of O. E. Brandon.

Citizenship Day

For about 30 years from the early 1930s to the early 1960s, the Nashville Area/Middle Tennessee Council Scout participated in Citizenship Day. Citizenship Day culminated in Boy Scouts taking over the offices of various political offices, both local government and state government, for an hour to “govern” the state. Mayor and Governor were included and the boys to hold these posts were generally on the cusp of being voters themselves.

Citizenship Day took many forms over the decades. It was held variously on a Thursday or Friday in February (Boy Scout Week), April, or in September (Constitution Day is September 17). It could be a stand alone day or part of a larger community program that involved Boys Week, Girls Week, or Youth Week. When females and African American boys participated, they were usually denied the political posts, but had the opportunity to “take over” local schools, colleges, or businesses. For instance, an African American boy could be president of Fisk, Meharry, TSU, or a local bank. An event like this required numerous coordinators and famed OA Advisor served in this capacity for the Boy Scouts in 1961.

Seen here is Eagle Scout Billy Adams of Troop 15. He is sitting in for Department of Conservation Commissioner Howell Buntin, making this photo around 1948, though an exact date is not known.

Eagle Scout Billy Adams at the desk of Conservation Commissioner Howell Buntin, ca. 1948. Collection of John Cooper-Ernie Ragsdale