Take Down Slow Down

There was a time when Take Down was a seminal event. After camp had ended, all the staff stayed around and tore down and packed up camp. All the program areas, all the camp sites, everything–taken down and stored in less than 2 hours.

The hold up on take-down was almost always the staff sites. When the group sites were a feature, there was no only personal gear and cots and mattresses to pack up, but camp furniture and just… life. There was almost always trash and left over debris that slowed down the whole process and kept people from going home.

Seen here is the Parnell Waterfront staff site in 1993. Note the left over mattress, furniture nearby and a tent that hasn’t even been dropped yet. here is also a lot of trash that still needs to be picked up. This is just one of at least five staff sites that were in similar condition!

Parnell Waterfront staff site during take-down, 1993. Collection of Eric Cole

Staff Night Out

All the way up until the 2000s, Staff Night Out was a singular night out. In other words, all the staff went out together on one evening. For virtually all of Old Hickory Boxwell’s history, Staff Night Out was Tuesday night. Scoutmasters went to the steak supper that night. Staff entertained Scouts and then handed oversight back to adult leaders after the dinner. Older staff drove younger staff and out they went. Older Staff got another night out on Thursdays and those over 21 could leave whenever they wanted.

And then a storm came through in 2008. For whatever reason, it was seen as inappropriate that the staff be out and not around to take care of the Scouts, even though their adult leaders were available. From that point to today, staff night out is most nights of the week, with different areas going out at different times. The whole staff never goes out together anymore.

Here then is a photo of one of the last group Staff Nights Out. Stahlman staff are out on the town, complete with mullets and pipes. Good times are guaranteed. We won’t ask (or tell) what was happening here. What happened on Staff Night Out, stayed with Staff Night Out… most of the time.

Stahlman Staff Night Out, 2004. Collection of Jeremy Gillard.

Rock Island Entrance

What happens to a camp when it isn’t a camp anymore? This was the question Boxwell No. 3 faced when the Old Hickory location opened. Today, the “Rock Island Boxwell” is known as either Parish Reservation or Camp Tubb, but there was a period when it was… well, it just was.

Rock Island Boxwell was officially renamed the Charles E. Parish Reservation after Parish’s passing in 1975. Parish had been Council president in the early 1950s and had an important Council player in the early stages of the move to Old Hickory Lake. A major player in the Tullahoma area, naming the abandoned camp after Parish made sense.

But from 1960 to 1975, Rock Island wasn’t Boxwell and it wasn’t the Parish Reservation. Seen here is the entrance to the Rock Island location in the 1970s. As you can get from the “sign,” the letters “BSA” adorn both circles, but there is no lettering in the center. It was a camp without a name… at least temporarily.

Rock Island entrance, mid-1970s. Photo by Michael Seay.