Rock Island Assembly Area

All Boxwells have an Assembly area. Here is where flag ceremonies are held and important communications are given. At the modern Boxwell, the assemblies areas are directly in front of the dining hall. At earlier Boxwells, there might be a small walk. This was the case at the Rock Island Boxwell.

Shown here is the Rock Island Boxwell Assembly area, just down the hill from the dining hall tents. As staff member Wolf Goethert explained, “All the scouts from each camp site were lined up around the flagpole. The camp director, Richard Parker, took a report from each site. We had a real bugler that played the appropriate bugle call while the flag was lowered.”

If you look in the background to the left, hidden in the trees are a few tents. Today, if you visit Charles Parish reservation, this is a campsite. In the Rock Island period, this was the Activities Yard. Continuing to the right toward the mess tents through these trees, you would next find the Con Yard and then the Handicraft tent. The Assembly area was quite literally the heart of the Rock Island Boxwell.