Creighton and Vaughn

If you don’t recognize them, the two men are giants of Middle Tennessee Council history. On the left is Wilbur Creighton, Sr. Creighton formed the first Scout troop under the Nashville Council in 1920 and continued in that work for 30 years before becoming Council President in 1951. Under his leadership the Council launched a capital campaign for Rock Island Boxwell, the first land for “new” Boxwell was purchased, and the Long Hunter Award was published. Creighton’s son, Wilbur, Jr., attended the Linton Boxwell as a Scout and went on to write the first Council history, _Boys Will Be Men_ in 1983, wherein he claimed his father “shocked Scouting” as Council President, though how was not exactly clear. Creighton passed in 1968.

The man on the right is William James “Billy Jim” Vaughn, Scoutmaster of Troop 1. Troop 1 was actually the very first troop formed in Middle Tennessee, predating the Council. The original Scoutmaster was William Haley, who passed the baton to Vaughn in 1935. Vaughn went on to lead Troop 1 for 74 years. He received some of the first Wood Badge beads awarded to a Middle Tennessee Scouter and was awarded the Silver Beaver in 1950. The bronze Scout statue in front of the Jet Potter Center was erected to honor Vaughn in 2002. Vaughn passed seven years later in 2009.

While there was no information with this particular photo, our best guess is that the photo was taken around 1950-1951. Creighton would have been Council President and Vaughn would have completed Wood Badge and been awarded the Silver Beaver.

Wilbur F. Creighton and Billy Jim Vaughn, ca. 1951.

Greetings All!

Have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.  Here are some Boxwell turkeys to help you celebrate the day.

Boxwell Turkeys, 2024. Photo by Grady Eades

This Saturday!

The Kick-Off for the Boxwell Staff Alumni Association is this Saturday, September 30 at Camp Parnell from 1-4 PM. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

Program begins at 1:30 PM, including tour of the STEM Center and Skilled Trades Center. Register for the Association and check out founding member swag!

Final RSVP Reminder

Boxwell Staff Alumni! If you plan to attend the Kick-off event next Saturday, you MUST RSVP by this Friday, September 22. Let us know you are coming so we can plan appropriately!

Event RSVP due by September 22: https://forms.gle/vRRYCTdAHRUuvmJL8

Pioneer Camp, 1959

An unremarkable, yet intriguing photo this week. As we explained a few weeks ago, Middle Tennessee Council secured rights to what is now Boxwell Reservation in 1957. A September 1957 camporee inaugurated the property to camping with 1500 Scouts on the property in a single weekend, more than Rock Island had seen all summer!

The photo here is not from the 1957 Camporee, but from other troop camping in the two years before Boxwell opened. Here we see Scouts from Troop 204 eating breakfast on a pioneered quadpod table. What’s important for us is the background.

Before the capital campaign, before the campaign’s construction began, before almost anything else on the Reservation was built, there was the Pump House. Donated by the Clover Bottom Developmental Hospital in 1959, the Pump House was the first building constructed on the propert. After all, if you’re going to mix concrete and build buildings, you need water.

Charlie Ray Smith, who contributed the photo, recalled the camp-out, remarking that from their camping location, the troop could hear construction at Camp Parnell in that Spring of 1959.