Dual Waterfronts

Hanging on the wall in the suite for the Camping Department in the Jet Potter center is an early map of Boxwell. The shape is recognizable instantly, but if one takes a moment to look closely at it, the difference becomes immediately obvious. This is one of the originals visions for Boxwell Reservation.Versions of this map were used in campaign materials in 1959.

Most of these other versions though are big picture breakdowns. Where the four camps are. Where the roads run. Where the major buildings are going to be. This one provides a bit more detail. One can see that the original plan envisioned a single rifle range and archery range for Stahlman and Parnell as well as a single showerhouse for both camps. Sometimes its great that plans change!

One of the great “might have beens” of this original map is the detail shown here. This is Parnell bay and as is quite clear, the original concept was for this bay to run not one, but TWO waterfront programs. There are swimming and boat docks planned for both camps around the bay with Explorer Island bridge at the top. It would have been a crowded way to spend the summer!

A detail from the 1959 map of Boxwell in the Camping Office at Jet Potter Center

Seth Sharpe, Eagle Scout

As this is Black History month, we would be remiss if we let the entire month pass without making SOME observation specific to African American gains in Scouting.  As we have discussed before, from approximately 1930 to the mid-1950s, the Council ran a segregated Scouting Division, eventually known as the J. C. Napier Division, named after famed Nashville African American businessman and politician James Carroll Napier.  Eventually, we should do a post on Napier!

But this week, we want to look briefly at the Division itself.  The Napier division was never particularly large.  Most of the troops were from the “black part of town,” which at the time was around Capitol Hill.  The Division office for years was run out of the studios of African American photographer George Anderson, who (by the way) was the first black man to receive the Silver Beaver in Nashville for his work as the Napier Division Commissioner (1948).  Anderson’s studio was on Cedar Street, which is today Charlotte Avenue.

All of this is to say that by December 1944, the Napier Division announced it’s first Eagle Scout, Seth Sharpe of Troop 72.  We know very little about Sharpe.  He participated in Nashville’s Youth Day in Government in 1945 as Assistant Director of Education and graduated from Pearl High School in 1947.  That’s about it.  Mr. Sharpe received the award at the division-wide Court of Honor held at the Morris Memorial Building (today 330 Charlotte Ave).  As far as we know, Sharpe was the first black Eagle Scout in Middle Tennessee.  We have no photo, just the attached note from the Nashville Tennessean on December 10.

W. H. Shackleford, “Happenings Among Colored People,” Nashville Tennessean (Nashville, TN), December 10, 1944, sec. C, 8. “Napier Scouts.’

Website Updates

2026 is a big year over here at VirtualBoxwell. While we bought the domain name for this site in September 2000, the first website didn’t go live until 2001. In other words, 2026 is our 25th Anniversary!!

To celebrate, we have a few things planned. In a joint effort with the Boxwell Staff Alumni Association, there will be a Boxwell Summer Camp staff reunion this summer on June 6. In addition to the reunion itself and the things that go with it (t-shirts and the like), there is at least one REALLY cool surprise we have planned. More on that in the coming months.

We will also be celebrating some council history this year in addition to our own story. For instance, April will be the 50th anniversary of the Bicentennial Muster, which gave us the amazing “LIBERTY” images. We’ll be looking at this event and other Council anniversaries. We’ll also spend a little time looking at VirtualBoxwell milestones and trying to highlight our history a bit.

AND… if everything works out and we can get things done in a reasonable timeframe, we have a surprise to offer at the end of the summer. It is better to not say too much at this point, but we’re pretty confident this will be something people will be excited about if we can get our act together.

In other words, there are a few surprises coming this year. 🙂 Honestly, there is a big year for us and we’re pretty excited about it.

In the meantime, tonight is really just about mundane site updates. We’ve updated the copyright date for 2026 and changed to a winter-appropriate banner. The original image was taken by Ranger Steve Belew in the winter of 2010. See that original image here and the banner on the main website.

We’ve also updated the staff photos with the Craig and Admin photos for 2025. Though we have asked, we do not have Stahlman, CubWorld, and whole staff photos. If they float our way, we’ll update those as well. In the meantime, visit the VirtualBoxwell Staff page: http://www.virtualboxwell.org/staff.php

Oh, and it’s the 250th Anniversary of the United States. The term you want here is “semiquincentennial.” Big year!

CubWorld Dining Hall in snow, 2010. Photo by Steve Belew.

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