National Capital Area Council

National Capital Area Council
Owner Boy Scouts of America
Location Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, United States Virgin Islands[1]
Country United States
Coordinates 39.007331,-77.097976
Founded 1911
President Robert Wood
Council Commissioner Garry Lewis
Scout Executive Les Baron
Website
http://www.NCACBSA.org
National Capital Area Council gateway at the 1993 National Scout Jamboree

The National Capital Area Council (NCAC) is a local council of the Boy Scouts of America and serves Scouts in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and the United States Virgin Islands.[1] It is rated as a "Class 100" council by the National Council (headquarters office), which denotes that the NCAC is among the very largest in the country. Chartered in 1911, it is also one of the oldest. The council is divided into 23 districts serving ten counties in Northern Virginia, six counties in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the US Virgin Islands. NCAC is a local council within the Northeast Region.

The NCAC is well known for a high level of adult volunteerism which translates into exceptional program delivery and facilities. The council has a 2.5 to 1 ratio of youth members to adult leaders—among the very best of all councils within the BSA. The youth retention rate approaches 80%.[2]

Organization

The National Capital Area Council is divided into service areas and districts:

Camps

Goshen Scout Reservation

Goshen Scout Reservation is a Boy Scout reservation designated to camping, swimming, hiking and other various activities. Known simply as "Goshen" to Scouts in the National Capital Area Council, it is home to four resident Boy Scout summer camps and two resident Webelos camps. The reservation is located near Goshen, Virginia, and is owned and operated by the National Capital Area Council. The camps are all built around Lake Merriweather, a 450-acre impoundment of the Calf Pasture River which features an exceptional population of largemouth bass.

Goshen first opened to Scouts of the National Capital Area Council in the summer of 1967. The reservation is situated on over 4,800 acres (16 km2) of forested land.

Camp William B. Snyder

Camp William B. Snyder
Location Haymarket, Virginia
Website
www.ncacbsa.org
Scouts at Camp William B. Snyder

Camp William B. Snyder is an 350-acre (1.4 km2) Cub Scout Camp in Prince William, Virginia, owned by the National Capital Area Council of Boy Scouts of America. It is one of the largest Cub Scout Camps in the United States.

In 1994 Disney Incorporated bought extensive amounts of land in Haymarket, Virginia for a proposed Disney's America theme park. Local resistance to the resort led to its end as a viable idea. William B. Snyder, a local business man convinced Disney to sell the property to him. Snyder, in turn, sold off most of the land to developers, except for the 350 acres (1.4 km2) that were donated to the National Capital Area Council.

Roughly 125 acres (0.51 km2) of the camp was bought by an environmental group that created a small impoundment as wetland habitat for native wildlife. After completion, the land and pond were donated back to the National Capital Area Council with the provision that it be held in trust. The pond is used for environmental education, as well as fishing, canoeing, kayaking, and sailing.

Howard M. Wall Scout Camp

Howard M. Wall Scout Camp
Owner National Capital Area Council
Location Fareham, Saint Croix, USVI
Country United States
Coordinates 17°43′01″N 64°39′54″W / 17.717°N 64.665°W / 17.717; -64.665

The Howard M. Wall Scout Camp at Milord Point Beach on Route 62 at Great Pond Bay, in Fareham, USVI on the southeast end of Saint Croix, is meant to accommodate up to 150 campers. It has a bath house (with two separated banks of showers and two rooms of latrines) and a mess hall.

Order of the Arrow

Amangamek Wipit Lodge
Founded 1952
Lodge Chief Jonathan Bjorson
Lodge Adviser Art Widmann
Staff Adviser Don Durbin
Website
http://www.ncacbsa.org/group/OA

Amangamek Wipit Lodge was granted its first Charter on March 12, 1952. The Lodge was originally chartered without a name or totem. In the fall of 1952, the Lodge founders, Jack A. Obermeyer (first Lodge Adviser) and Ralph P. Lutz, and other former OA members residing in the area, visited the various troops in the council to conduct elections. That fall, three separate Ordeals were held by Nentico, Blue Heron, and Nawakwa Lodges. By the time of the first lodge banquet on December 29, 1952, the lodge had 89 charter members (77 from the Ordeals and 12 from transfers). At the banquet, the first lodge chief, Robert L. Zink, was elected.

In June 1953, the lodge conducted its first Ordeal on its own. The lodge name and totem were also adopted at this meeting. The totem selected was an arrow and the Washington Monument superimposed on a shark's tooth. The monument stood vertically in the center of the tooth and the arrow bisected the monument at an angle pointing upward to the left. The shark's tooth was chosen for the lodge name and the principal object in the totem because of the large number of sharks' teeth that were found along the Chesapeake shores of Camp Roosevelt, which served as the early home for the lodge. The Indian version of the lodge name, "Amanquemack", was obtained in a telephone conversation with a Delaware Indian language expert at the Smithsonian Institution. There was no word for 'shark' in the language, only 'large fish'; the 'tooth' part was assumed. The first lodge patch appeared in October 1953.

On March 27, 1954, Nentico Lodge provided the first Brotherhood ceremony for the lodge at Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation. The Lodge held its first Brotherhood ceremony on its own later that August. The lodge's first Vigil, Ralph P. Lutz, was inducted at the 1954 Area III-C Pow Wow held at Camp Rock Enon in May.

Sometime in November or December 1955, additional research was done on the lodge name. It was discovered that the word "Amanquemack" did not exist in the Delaware language and the name had been written down incorrectly in the original telephone conversation with the Smithsonian. The correct word for 'large fish' was "Amangamek" and the word for 'tooth' was "Wipit." The new lodge name "Amangamek-Wipit" first appeared in early 1956; it was probably adopted at the December 1955 lodge banquet.

The lodge was a charter member of old Area III-C and hosted the Area III-C Pow Wow in 1956 at Camp Roosevelt and in 1965 at Camp Wilson. In 1973, the Lodge was included in the area realignment and became an active member of Section SE-1. The lodge hosted the 1976 SE-1 Indian Seminar at Ft. Belvoir, VA, and the 1980 SE-1 Conclave at Camp Happyland, VA.

In January 1982, Amangamek-Wipit was among the five northern lodges split off to form Section SE-9. Later in May, these five lodges were transferred to the Northeast Region to form the new Section NE-6. In June 1988 three Pennsylvania lodges joined NE-6; in June 1994 the section was renamed NE-4C; and in July 2008 Amangamek-Wipit became part of Section NE-6A. The lodge hosted section conclaves in 1985 at Camp Happyland, VA and in 1991 at Prince William National Forest, VA, for NE-6; and in 1996, at Camp Rock Enon, VA, and in 2003, at Goshen Scout Reservation, VA, for NE-4C. In 2009 and 2013 Amangamek-Wipit hosted section conclaves for the new NE-6A at Camp William B. Snyder, VA.

Since formation, Amangamek-Wipit Lodge has produced the one national vice chief; two region chiefs; two area chiefs and three area vice chiefs; 13 section chiefs, 11 vice chiefs, 10 secretaries, and one section adviser; two region OA chairmen; seven national OA Committeemen; four national OA committee vice chairmen, one National OA Bulletin editor; 19 Distinguished Service Award, 108 Founder's' Award, and 2,112 Vigil Honor recipients. The lodge has been recognized with three E. Urner Goodman National Camping Awards. In recent years, the lodge has consistently been the first or second largest lodge in the Order and has often achieved National Quality Lodge and Journey to Excellence Gold status.

See also

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Capital Area Council.

References

  1. 1 2 "Virgin Islands Council now part of National Capital Area Council". Scout Wire. 2013-03-21. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  2. ↑ "2013 Annual Report by National Capital Area Council".
  3. ↑ "Shorpy Historical Photo Archive :: Group Shot: 1925". Shorpy.com. 1925-07-09. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
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