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Lodge History |
Early Roots
In May 1915, a young man named E.Urner Goodman was selected to serve as Summer Camp Director of Treasure Island (nearPhiladelphia) and Carroll A. Edson was appointed Assistant Director in charge of thecommissary. They decided to establish a society to recognize those Scouts who best exemplified the spirit of the Scout Oath and Law. Since the camp was located in theDelaware Valley, they based this society on the legend of the Delaware Indians, or Lenni Lenape. Thus, on July 16, 1915, the very first Ordeal Ceremony was held. News of the organization spread to other Scout camps and many others were asking about it. As a result, Lodges were established in New Jersey, Maryland, New York, and Illinois. The Order grew slowly during the period from 1915 to 1921 as World War I kept Scouts and leaders busy with many problems and projects. In 1921 there was a National Convention held and a national Lodge was formed. Following the convention, there was steady growth in Lodges and membership. In 1922, the Order of the Arrow became an official programexperiment of the Boy Scouts of America. In 1929 at another national convention, it was suggested that the Order become an official part of the Boy Scouts of America and a component part of its program. Therefore, in June 1934 at the National Council Meeting,the Order of the Arrow program was approved by the National Council. Then in May 1948, the Order was officially integrated into the Scouting movement.Finally in 1933, the Order of the Arrow made it to North Carolina, affectionately known as the "Old North State". At that time, the General Greene Council headquartered in Greensboro was granted a charter for a Lodge known as Tali Tak Taki # 70 which used the heron as its totem. The Council Camp was then called Camp Greystone and herons tended to frequent the lake that was used at that time. Thus, Tali Tak Taki means "White Heron on a Grey Stone". Later, in 1939, the Cherokee Council headquartered in Burlington received a charter for its Lodge known as Tslagi # 163. The totem was a chieftain sitting on a horse and the literal meaning of Tslagi is "Cherokee". Next in 1941 was Uwharrie # 208 of the Uwharrie Council headquartered in High Point. The totem was a Turtle.
In the early 90's, talks got underway to discuss the possibility of the merger of the General Greene Council with the Uwharrie Council. After much study, the decision was made that these two Councils should indeed merge. In addition, this meant that Tali Tak Taki # 70 and Uwharrie# 208 would also have to merge together to form one Lodge. Thus, a group was formed to decide how this should be done and what to name the new Lodge. It was finally agreed that the new Lodge would be named Keyauwee # 70 with the River Otter as its totem. Furthermore, the Council changed its name to the Old North State Council. Then in 1993, talks got underway to decide if Old North State Council and Cherokee Council should consolidate. It was initially rejected but later it was approved. Therefore, again the Lodge was faced with coming up with another name. Since there were three Lodge traditions and histories feeding into this merger, it was decided that the name should reflect the three Lodges. So the name in Cherokee was born: Tsoiotsi Tsogalii which translated means "We Three Are Friends". The Red Tailed Hawk was chosen as the totem.
Our Lodge’s very first event was hosted at Camp Wenasa that year with the Fall Fellowship. The event was held here since the Dining Hall at Camp Cherokee was being rebuilt. On Saturday night, a very meaningful Re-Dedication Ceremony has held over at Camp Nikwasi which featured many symbols of our Order such as the Arrow and WWW. These symbols had been constructed by David Trull and were illuminated with flames as we walked the Re-Dedication Trail. Elections were held and Brent Stainback was elected as our very first Lodge Chief to serve for the year of 1995.
We started off with Spring Fellowship being hosted at Cherokee Scout Reservation. In April, the Lodge attended its very first Section Conclave (known at that time as the Cardinal Conclave) held at Tuscarora Scout Reservation. There was a large contingent and the Lodge represented itself well by winning the Allan "Doc" Lewis Quest Award. Bud Harrelson was elected to serve as Southern Region Section 7 Chief. That summer, the first Call Outs were held at Camp Cherokee and a large number of candidates were tapped out. In August, our very first Ordeals were held at Woodfield Scout Preservation. Later that fall in October, we held our second Ordeal weekend at Cherokee Scout Reservation. Our last event of the year was our Fall Fellowship. Elections were held and BenWilliams was elected to serve as our Lodge Chief for 1996.
Spring Fellowship was a super event that year. The Lodge attended the Section Conclave that year hosted by Pipsico Scout Reservation up near Williamsburg, Virginia. The Section at that time included 12 Lodges, 3 of which were in Virginia. Bud Harrelson was re-elected Section Chief and served as the only two-term Section Chief for SR-7. At Summer Camp, the Lodge performed its Lodge Legend for the very first time. The Lodge also attended its first National Order of the Arrow Conference held at Indiana University. The Pre-Ordeal Ceremony Team received a Merit Award and the basketball team made it to the Sweet Sixteen. The August and October Ordeals were quite large indeed! The Elangomat patch was designed and distributed to Elangomats in recognition of Cheerful Service. Our last event of the year was our Fall Fellowship held at Camp Cherokee. We participated in the first "Section One Day of Service" by picking up trash along Boy Scout Camp Road. Elections were held and John Isley was elected Lodge Chief for 1997.
Spring Fellowship was a blast in 1997 as we had many activities and events going on that weekend. Saturday morning featured Marvin Preslar doing a blacksmithing demonstration which proved very popular. Bud Harrelson led a nature hike and Steve Vaughan brought along some snakes. The last demonstration that morning was Frank Newell from Warren County who did an outstanding program on "Beavers & Blue Birds". The afternoon featured a Ceremony Competition and the Quest Events: Knotted Doorway, Fuzzy Stick, Fire Building, A-Frame Race, and Egg Toss. Alamance Chapter was the winner of the Quest! The evening program was Ted White with singing and story telling. We dawned the Yellow shirts and headed off to the very last Cardinal Conclave hosted by Catawba Lodge at their Clear Creek Scout Reservation as the Section was realigned. The 6 Lodges in Virginia were split off to become SR-7A and the 6 Lodges in North Carolina became SR-7B (They are Tsoiotsi Tsogalii 70, Occoneechee 104, Croatan 117, Nayawin Rar 296, and Klahican 331). Our theme for this Conclave was "Zippety Doo Dah" and we were the largest Lodge there with 218 delegates. Our Conclave responsibility was the Quest which was a rousing success. We had much spirit and competed in several events. Everyone had a ball! Summer was a busy time with tapout ceremonies at camp and also the National Jamboree. The Lodge was well represented at the Order of the Arrow Gathering and we showed much spirit there. Work on a Lodge Museum to be built in the basement of the Allan "Doc" Lewis OA Lodge building began. The Ordeals in August & October saw 159 and 142 members inducted, respectively. The Lodge Trade-O-Ree organized by John Kinney and Moved to the Dining Hall at Camp Cherokee was a success as a fund raiser for the Lodge. We had many dealers attend from all over the East Coast and many treasures were displayed and traded. We once again participated in the "Section One Day Project" on November 1st by doing some trail work on the "Mountains to the Sea" trail near Greensboro. We built 2 bridges on the Laurel Bluff Trail and we all had fun standing in mud at least 2 feet deep! Fall Fellowship was also a lot of fun with many activities and events going on. We started a campfire on Friday night and the Lodge Legend was reenacted for everyone.Saturday was packed with lots of fun activities like rappelling, dancing, and repairing Lodge regalia. We also made a swing which we plan to take to Conclave next year as part of our Scoutcraft responsibilities.. Elections were held and Daniel Glaze was elected as our Lodge Chief. Our Lodge was also recognized as a National Quality Lodge based on all the requirements set forth by National. This marked the first time ever that our Lodge had attained this honor!
The year started out with our Spring Fellowship at Camp Cherokee. Saturday morning’s training events included the following: Unit Elections, Ceremony Team Development, Elangomat Training, Indian Dance Outfits, and Chapter Scavenger Hunt. There were Chapter competitions in Soccer, Basketball, and Volleyball. Winner of the Scavenger Hunt and Quest was Achewon Chapter! The Lodge did very well at the Section 7B Conclave hosted by Croatan Lodge at Camp Bonner. The Theme for this conclave was "Merry Conclave" using a Christmas Theme. We sang Christmas carols, had a sleigh, and even Santa showed up. Awards that we picked up were: 1st Place in Team Dance, 2nd Place in Newsletter Competition, 3rd Place Tie in Quest, and won the Participation Award (For best overall Lodge)! That summer, The Lodge Legend was also performed for the very first time at our tapout ceremonies. In addition, the Lodge sent a delegation to the National Order of the Arrow Conference held at Iowa State University. Our Newsletter was recognized as "Honor" status, one of only five in the entire country to earn this recognition! Our very own Bud Harrelson was presented the Distinguished Service Award, the very first recipient from our Lodge! The Ordeal weekends in August and October went very well. In fact, we inducted more brothers at any other time in our short history. Many work projects were accomplished at these two Ordeal weekends. Our Trade-O-Ree held again in September in the Dining Hall at Camp Cherokee was a lot of fun as many patches and collections were displayed. Fall Fellowship was a big hit. Saturday morning featured a See and Do with many hobbies represented: Railroading by Ron Lindler and Fred Mackie, Scuba Diving by Barry Allred, Scouts on Stamps by John Kinney, Patch Collecting by Bill Pergerson, Fly Tying by Charlie Garwood and lots more. We held our very first Winter Banquet that night with John Isley serving as Master of Ceremonies. Chris Fulcher put together a fabulous slide show which everyone enjoyed! Elections were held and Daniel Glaze was reelected Lodge Chief for 1999. We once again participated in the "Section One Day of Service" by building a fence around a parking lot associated with the"Mountains to the Sea" trail. We were once again recognized as a National Quality Lodge for the second year in a row!!
The first event to kick off the Fifth Year Celebration was the Spring Fellowship held on March 5-7 at Camp Cherokee. Saturday morning featured Training Events:Elangomat Training, Leave No Trace Camping, Dancing & Drumming, and How to Form a Ceremony Team. There was also information about the Unit Elections Procedures. That afternoon was the Carnival with Putt Putt Golf, Basketball Shooting, Ring Toss, Bowling, Ping Pong Toss, M & M Push through Flour, Bobbing for Apples, Fuzzy Cream Chunking and lots more. The Quest Events that afternoon were Breechclout Relay, Mule Pull, Arrow Throw,Flag Raising, and Caterpillar Race. Saura Chapter was the winner of the Quest! Dinner that night featured BBQ Pork, Potato Salad, Baked Beans, Slaw, Rolls, and Banana Pudding; a feast all cooked up by Alfred & Shirley Giles and their crew. After supper, the remaining arrowhead patches seen here were sold at the Trading Post and in 7 minutes they were all gone! We rolled out our 5th Anniversary Flap at the Conclave hosted by Wahissa Lodge # 118 at their Camp Raven Knob on April 16-18, 1999. We used "Happy Birthday" as our theme and many brothers sported birthday hats and various other masks, sunglasses, etc. The Lodge competed well in many facets and picked up the following awards: 1st Place Newsletter, 1st Place in the Quest, 2nd Place Junior Traditional Dance (Curtis Giles), and 3rd Place Senior Old Style (Jeff Atkins). We also finished a close 2nd in the competition for Honor Lodge. Larry Warlick stepped down after 6 years as Section Adviser and Tommy Murray will be taking over. Our Brotherhood Weekend was held at Camp Cherokee on April 30-May 2 and was well attended by many Brothers. The weather for the weekend was absolutely perfect with clear skies and mild temps. Numerous work projects were completed including the following: Built new picnic tables, built two floating docks for Lake Farmer, worked on the Lodge Museum, spread mulch around various areas, raked leaves, did much work around the Rifle Range, worked on a shelter, and lots, lots more. This also marked the first time in Lodge history that a patch was issued for a Brotherhood Weekend! We had 30 Ordeal Candidates complete their Ordeal and 53 members sealed their membership by becoming Brotherhood members at the ceremony on Saturday night. Ken Shahbaz was our Cook for the weekend and we ate some fantastic food all weekend. All in all, it was a great weekend!! The August Ordeal at Camp Cherokee was August 13-15 where we inducted over 150 new Ordeal Members. As usual, it was an extremely hot weekend with temperatures well into the 90's! Much work was accomplished around camp. Again, for the first time ever, a patch was issued for this induction weekend. Ritchie Anderson served as our cook for the weekend and is is customary when he cooks, we had steak and all the trimmings that night for supper. The Ordeal Ceremonies that night were going fine until an awful storm blew up and drenched almost everyone involved. We all survived the weekend and felt good about what was accomplished. Our October Ordeal the weekend of October 1-3 was by the far the biggest Ordeal weekend that we have ever done! We had over 155 Candidates taking their Ordeal, 41 new Brotherhood members, and well over 95 Members in attendance.The weekend was absolutely beautiful with clear skies and cool temperatures. The Pre-Ordeal Ceremony was done three times by a great team and many work projects were completed on Saturday. David Trull was our cook for the weekend and the food was great including Grilled Pork Chops, Peas, Corn, Baked Apples and Bread for supper that night!! All in all, it was a great weekend and we are pleased to welcome our new Ordeal members to the Lodge. Our last big blowout for the year was our Fall Fellowship held the weekend of November 12-14 at camp. Friday featured a fantastic Re-Dedication Ceremony and we started our 1st Chess Tournament. Saturday morning was Native American Training with Southern Singing & Drumming, Flute Making, OA Ceremonies, Choker Making, and Regalia. That afternoon, we held a Wide Game, OA Unit Training, Flint Napping and Native Bows, and a Cooking Demo. We had a HUGE Patch Auction that afternoon. We concluded the weekend with our 2nd Annual Winter Banquet. We were lucky to have the National Chief, Will Parker, Southern Region Chief John Isley, Section 7B Chief Kevin Anderson, and Lodge Chief in Attendance. Will was our guest speaker and we capped off the evening with a great "Year in Review" slide show by Chris Fulcher. What an event and what a year!
We had gorgeous weather for our Spring Fellowship, with over 220 brothers in attendance. When all was said and done, Xualla Chapter won the Spirit Award for the weekend and they also won the Quest competition. For the afternoon Wide Game "Strengthening our Lodge Chain", 3rd place went to Achewon, 2nd place was a tie between Alamance & Danawa Tawodi, and 1st place went to Saura. These other sessions were also offered: Elangomat training, Team Dance, Brotherhood Prep, Ceremony Competition,OA Troop Rep Training, and Building Regalia. The food for the weekend was provided by the world famous Woodfield Cook Crew and we ate very well indeed. Friday supper was Spaghetti, Tossed Salad and Garlic Toast. Saturday breakfast filled us up with Sausage, Eggs, Gritsand Biscuits. Saturday lunch was Hamburgers (with all your favorite toppings) and dinner was some of the best Stew Beef and potatoes we’ve ever stuck a fork into! April was a busy month indeed for ourLodge: A Conclave and the Council Camporee. Our Theme for the Conclave was "Conclave at the Beach" and was hosted at Camp Bowers by Klahican Lodge. We picked up the following awards: Honor Lodge, 1st Place Newsletter, 1st Place Where to go Camping Booklet, 1st Place Fancy Dance Senior (Stewart Lowry), 2nd Place Quest, 3rd Place Team Dance, 3rd Place Website and 3rd Place Kitchkinet (Chris Erickson). The Council Camporee was held in Denton at the Thresher’s Reunion Park. Our Lodge served as the OA Service Corps and worked as Campsite Guides, Chaos Crew, Newsletter, OA Indian Viallage, Midway Support, and worked on the show. We performed over 3,100 hours of Cheerful Service! Our Brotherhood Weekend in May was well attended and we accomplished many work projects. In July, we headed to Knoxville for the National Conference. Our delegation was composed of 45 delegates, the largest group yet to attend a NOAC! We had a strong group and picked up the following national awards: National Champions in Soccer, National Honor Newsletter (1 of only 8), 1st Place – Lodge History Competition, 1st Place – Camping Promotion Extravaganza, 2nd Place – 50 Meter Freestyle Adult, 3rd Place – 100 Meter Freestyle Adult, 4th Place – Where to go Camping Booklet, 4th Place – 50 & 100 Meter Backstroke Youth, 7th Place – Team Dance, and 9th Place – 5K Run Adult. Our August Ordeal flowed as usual, including the fact that we inducted over 180 new ordeal members! The October Ordeal was also another large Ordeal as weinducted over 200 new Ordeal members. A lot of work was done around the camp. We concluded the year with our big Fall Fellowship.Friday night was Game Night with Monopoly, The Game of Life, Scrabble and lots of other games. There was also a Chess Tournament going on as well. Saturday morning featured our Rodeo with the Bronking Bull, Tomahawk Tossing, Dutch Oven Cooking, Branding and Blacksmithing, a Pie Eating Contest, and Spam Toss. After lunch, there was a ChapterVolleyball Tournament and then it was time for the Lodge Elections. These officers were chosen: Curtis Giles-Lodge Chief, Jack Wyrick-VC Program, Chris Erickson-VC Service, Brian Peters-VC Publications, Jason Hardy-VC Finance and Travis Ramsey-VC Records. To conclude the evening was our fabulous Banquet which was attended by Carey Mignerey-National Chief and Jim Cheatham-Southern Region Chief. Carey continued the tradition of kissing the moose!
Our year started out with our Spring Fellowship in March with “Cherokee Carnival” as our Theme. Friday night featured Board Games and Bingo, complete with prizes. Saturday morning featured these Training Cells: Patch Trading Ethics, OA Troop Rep Training, Elangomat Training, Indian Affairs Demonstration, and Unit Elections Training. That afternoon, the Dining Hall was turned into a huge Carnival and featured these booths: Ring Toss, Putt Putt Golf, Dart Throw at Balloons, Apple Bob, Basketball Toss, Hat Throw, Musical Chairs, Bean Bag Toss, Ping Pong Toss, M&M Push, Dr Pepper Chug, and Chubby Bunny. Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not cooperate weather wise and heavy dew fell almost all afternoon. Thus, the Quest events were cancelled. However, the Chapter Basketball Tournament went on as planned. Our Lodge had a ball with our “Mardi Gras” theme at Conclave in April. We took over 230 delegates to Camp Durant and came back the following awards: Honor Lodge, 1st Place Newsletter, 1st Place Where to go Camping Book, 1st Place Web Page, 2nd Place Ceremony team, 2nd Place Kitchkinet, 2nd Place Meteu, and 3rd Place Dance team. The Brotherhood Weekend in May was a rousing success! We completed the following projects: Built 18 Scoutmaster Tent Platforms, Spread mulch at the Honor Wall & Tower, Put together old benches, repaired over 20 rocking chairs, Cleaned OA building and waxed floor, electric repair in staff area, Put down walk blocks, Cot repair in every campsite, Latrine seat repair, Paint foundation of Camp Director’s building, assembled dance regalia, melted wax for new ceremony candles, repaired handrails to footbridge on Nature trail, and Cut dead trains around camp. The great news was that we converted 56 members to Brotherhood! This marks the most ever at one event. For the first time ever, our August Ordeal Weekend was held at Woodfield in an effort to provide more service to the Cub Scouting area. It meant moving lots of equipment from Cherokee down there. We gathered the weekend before to accomplish this task, moving the Trading Post, Indian regalia, tools, and other items needed. Then we gathered the weekend of August 17-19 and inducted 172 candidates. Here's a list of the projects: Cleared the dams at Boating Lake, Long House Lake and Fly Fish Lake, Built a fence at the Pirate ship, Cleaned and waxed floors at the Office, Health Lodge, and training Center, Cleared the bank below the Woods Conference center, Rebuilt beds in all campsites, Cleared the edges of the roads, Trimmed limbs at the Dining Hall, Spread mulch, Cleared area for a new campsite near the fort, Repaired holes in the roof of the Long House Walkway, and Cleared an area for a Fitness Area. The October Ordeal turned out to be one of our biggest weekends ever attended! We inducted 215 Ordeal Candidates and 70 Brotherhood Candidates. Fall Fellowship was held the weekend of November 16-18 and our special guest was National Vice-Chief, Scott Hunter. Friday night featured a Gong Show, which included many skits. Travis Ramsey, Chris Erickson and Chris Phillips served as the Gong Ringers. Saturday morning's training revolved around a Merit badge Midway with all types of Merit badges offered. The afternoon was the Lodge Olympics with a Tug of War, Javelin Toss, Spam Toss, Bed relay, Road Cone Hurdles, Shot Putt and frisbee Toss. The Gold medal went to Achewon Chapter, Silver Medal went to Alamance Chapter and the Bronze Medal went to Tutelo Chapter. In our Lodge elections that afternoon, Chris Phillips was elected Lodge Chief, Chris Erickson Vice-Chief of Program, Travis Ramsey Vice-Chief of Service, Joey Petrack Vice-Chief of Indian Affairs, John Long Vice-Chief of Records, Jason Hardy Vice-Chief of Finance, and Ryan Elliott Vice-Chief of Publications. That night, we held our annual banquet emceed by Bo Salsi and a message from the National Vice-Chief. 2001 was an awesome year for the Lodge! We inducted the most Ordeal Candidates ever at 407 and the largest number of Brotherhood Candidates at 170. Our Brotherhood Conversion ratio was also our highest at 42%. We performed 6,990 hours of service to the Council. It marked the first time that our Lodge conducted a Service weekend at Woodfield Scout Preservation, our Cub Scout World. We donated over $7,500 to the Council by paying for Camp Leader's Guides at both camps, contributed to the Endowment Fund, helped pay for another golf cart, bought tools for camp as well as a new laser printer, bought grass seed for several areas at camp, and continued to sponsor our High Adventure Campership program by sending an Arrowman to Philmont. We experienced positive growth for the year and rechartered with 1,308 members. For the fourth year in a row, we met the requirements for National Quality Lodge! Our Lodge earned the National Service Award for 2001. This award is presented to two Lodges per Region for exceptional service throughout the year to the Council. It is measured on both a qualitative and quantitative basis. In addition, the most meaningful service project for the year weighs heavily for this award.
The theme for Spring Fellowship was "Heritage Renewed" with much emphasis placed on Native American Heritage. Friday night featured our old Favorites: Board games, Bingo, Movies, Chess Tournament and Magic Tournament. Saturday morning's training sessions included these: Elangomat Training, Unit Elections Training, OA Troop Rep Training, Regalia making, Effective Newsletters, Patch Trading Ethics, and Effective Camp Promotions. The afternoon was quite busy with Conclave Work Projects, Committee Meetings, Quest, NOAC Soccer & Volleyball practice, and the Chapter Scavenger Hunt. That night, the Founder's Award was presented to Chris Phillips & Ken Shahbaz. After supper, we had a Lodge rededication ceremony, Brotherhood ceremony and a Pow Wow. After Fellowship, we held three workdays to get the camp ready for Conclave. These workdays were held on March 16, March 23, and April 13. A total of 191, 176, and 211 brothers showed up for these workdays and we performed well over 4,000 hours of service getting the camp ready to host a Conclave! We had a workday flap for those that worked all day and it proved to be very popular. We got much done and had a great time! Here's a list of some of the improvements made to camp for the Conclave: Numerous dead trees removed, Wood split and stacked in campsites, All latrines stained, Roads scraped, Dining Hall roof repaired, Trading Post cleaned (including washing windows), Grass sown at Flag Pole & Shoshone Hill, Basement of Lodge Building cleaned out and Main signs in camp repainted. Now it was time to actually host the Section Conclave the weekend of April 19-21. We ended up with a Service Lodge Staff and a Delegation to compete in all the facets of the Conclave. Bud Harrelson & Travis Ramsey served as the Conclave Adviser and Chairman. Other committees were the Chaos Crew (Chris Williams & Tim Frye), Indian Affairs (Curtis Giles & Mike Bailey), Trading Post (John Noor & Steve Allred), Food Services (Zan Rothrock, Ralph Ball & David Trull), Camp Expo (Thomas Parker & Tim Phillips), Security (Rusty Hampton, Ben Williams & Tim Parker), Campsite Hosts (Chris Erickson, Johnny Somers & Pam Wilson), Health & Safety (Jason Hardy & Sue Hampton), Signature (Chris Phillips & Ken Shahbaz), VIA (Michael Phillips & Delores Weber) and VIP (Jim Donecker, Larry Warlick & Jim Pennington). A total of 480 members from our Lodge attended! It was a most successful event and our Lodge earned the following awards: Section Honor Lodge, 1st Place Newsletter, 1st Place Where to go Camping Booklet, 1st Place Fancy Dancer, 1st Place Dutch Oven Cooking, 2nd Place Team Dance, and 3rd Place Pre-Ordeal Ceremony Team. The Brotherhood Weekend in May saw us begin construction of a storage building behind the lodge building. Rob Kennerly served as our project manager. The weather was less than ideal on Saturday as it rained all day long. Other projects that we completed were as follows: Built 7 picnic tables, cut down numerous dead trees, Built a fence at the Rifle Range, Spread mulch at the Tower, and set up the waterfront in preparation for the National Camp School we will host later in the month. All total, we performed 810 hours of service for the camp. In July, it was off to Indiana University for the National Conference. We took our largest group ever, with 75 delegates. Our dorm had no air conditioning. Thus it was NOAC @ NOAC! A heat wave hit the week that we were there and it was hot even for us Carolina boys. A huge storm hit on Tuesday afternoon that cooled things off briefly. We earned the following National Awards: Spirit Award (One of only 20), 1st Place – Where to go Camping Book, 1st Place – Camp Promotion Booth, 1st Place – Dutch Oven Cooking Contest, 1st Place – Ice Cream Making Contest, National Honor Newsletter (One of only 5), National Honor Camp Promotion Visit, Award of Merit – Lodge History Display, and 3rd Place Soccer Team. The August Ordeal was again held at Woodfield and we inducted over 125 new Ordeal members. Here’s a list of the service projects we performed: Spread mulch in all campsites on the West Side, cut numerous dead trees, cleared and blazed trails to Mary’s Mountain and Rush Mountain, cleared the banks on numerous dams, cleared the steep bank at the Conference Center, cleared an area for a new campsite, repaired over 25 picnic tables, cleared area for 2 new tent sites in the staff area, painted tons of fire buckets, and cleared brush from 3 campsites. Our second induction weekend in October was much larger! A total of 235 Candidates took their Ordeal and 41 converted to Brotherhood. It also marked the first time that we conducted some Community Service projects in Yanceyville as part of the new Strategic Plan. We actually had two projects going on at the same time: One at Stoney Creek Elementary School and the other near the Caswell County Fairgrounds. Some of the other projects that we completed were painting the OA Storage building, cutting & splitting wood for the stew, repairing rotten boards and roof to the Dining Hall, placing walkblocks down at latrines, clearing areas for 4 new campsites on the new property, clearing limbs on the new property, cleaning up a trash pile at the new property, spreading mulch at the Honor Wall, and lots more. That brings us to the last event of the year, Fall Fellowship. We had such a busy weekend with the Patch Auction moved to Friday night and then a huge Dutch Oven Crackerbarrel afterwards. Saturday saw us conduct another Merit Badge Midway that was even bigger than last year! We offered Archaeology, Astronomy, Auto Mechanics, Coin Collecting, Computers, Crime Prevention, Engineering, Fingerprinting, Fire Safety, Journalism, Law, Medicine, Pulp & Paper, Railroading, Textiles, Weather, and Woodcarving. The afternoon was to feature the Shotgun Range being open. Alas, the rainy weather did not allow for this. We did run a Chapter Scavenger Hunt, with Danawa Tawodi the winner. Then it was on to the Lodge Elections. Our new Officers for the year are as follows: Lodge Chief-Ryan “Chunk” Elliott, Vice-Chief of Program – Joey Petrack, Vice-Chief of Service – Trey Stowe, Vice-Chief of Indian Affairs – Ben Stanley, Vice-Chief of Finance – John Noor, Vice-Chief of Records – Bo Salsi, and Vice-Chief of Publications – John Fennimore. After the elections, our new Lodge Totem Pole was unveiled at a dedication ceremony. Then it was on to the Lodge Annual Banquet. We were fortunate to have as our special guest, Riley Berg, the National Vice-Chief. We had a great banquet and then it was off to the Handicraft Shelter for the Brotherhood Ceremony. Unfortunately, it rained just about all day on Saturday!
Spring Fellowship was held the weekend of March 7-9 with about 275 Arrowmen in attendance. Friday night featured board games, patch trading and fellowship. Saturday dawned cool but it soon warmed up and was a fantastic day. The morning featured training cells on Elangomat Training, Unit Elections training, Indian Regalia, and Patch trading Ethics. Service was also rendered in that the uprights for the new shelter at Blackfoot were set and numerous trees were cut and trimmed after the major ice storm. Lunch featured a cell on the New Jumpstart program. Afternoon activities featured an EC Hunt, Dutch Oven cooking, Building projects for Conclave, Shotgun shooting, and Quest events. That night the Founder’s Award was presented to Jason Hardy, Ron Lindler, and Robert Staley. After supper, there was a Rededication Ceremony and Brotherhood Ceremony. The Lodge headed off to Tuscarora Scout Reservation for the Section Conclave the weekend of April 11-13. We were again the largest delegation there with over 200 delegates. Our Theme for the weekend was “That 70’s Lodge”. The weather was cold and rainy on Friday but Saturday & Sunday were perfect. Our Lodge was responsible for the Scoutcraft exhibit and the Indian Village. We built a Ferris Wheel and See Saw and had lots of Native American dishes in the Indian Village. Thanks to Rickey Pierce & Hendal Price for bringing their Tipis. We earned the following awards: Section Honor Lodge, 1st Place Newsletter, 1st Place Where to go Camping Book, 1st Place Fancy Dancer (Benji Rodgers), 2nd Place Meteu (Joey Petrack) & Nutiket (Michael Phillips), 3rd Place Allowat (Rusty Coco) & Kitchkinet (Andrew Tucker), 3rd Place Ceremony Team, and 3rd Place Dance Team. Our May Brotherhood Weekend featured a huge storm on Friday night delaying our Pre-Ordeal Ceremony for over an hour. Saturday was a nice day and we accomplished much: Built 8 picnic tables, cut down numerous dead trees, cleaned up debris from ice storm. In June, we dedicated a new BB & Archery range at Woodfield. The Lodge provided all the funding (A little over $3,400) and the manpower to construct this new facility. It has been named in honor of Bill Brackett, our recently retired Scout Executive. The August Ordeal was held again at Woodfield Scout Preservation and was attended by a large number of Brothers and Ordeal Candidates. A huge thunderstorm on Saturday morning delayed the start of our work projects. However, it soon cleared and much was accomplished. Our October Ordeal was again our largest induction weekend. Much work was done at the camp. Fall Fellowship was a blast! We started that evening with a huge Patch Auction which raised well over $1,000 for the lodge. Then we had a fantastic Dutch Oven crackerbarrel with well over 30 ovens. Saturday featured various Native American training cells. Alas, we were not able to hold our shotgun shooting due to rain yet again! Our Banquet featured Frank McMillan, Region Chief, as our special guest. A special patch was issued in honor of our Lodge earning the E. Urner Goodman Camping Award.
Spring Fellowship was held the weekend of March 5-7 with about 225 Arrowmen in attendance. Friday night featured a campfire and our first Freeze-O-Ree for crackerbarrel. Saturday dawned cool but it soon warmed up and was a fantastic day. The morning featured training cells on Elangomat Training, Unit Elections training, New Member Orientation, and Campfire Resources. Service was also rendered in that the uprights for the new shelter at Sioux were set. Lunch featured a Birthday party. Afternoon activities featured Indian Crafts and the Quest events. After supper, there was a Brotherhood Ceremony and Games.
March & April featured two very important functions. First was our involvement in the Council Camporee. We once again worked as the OA Service Corps at this event by helping in the following areas: Indian Village, Train Station, Chaos Crew, Midway Support, Campsite Selection, Parking & Security, Trading Post, Food Services, Health & Safety, and many other areas. We had over 200 Arrowmen on staff and rendered well over 2,000 hours of service over the weekend.
Next was Conclave held at Camp Bonner, near Chocowinity the weekend of April 16-18. The weather was crystal clear for the entire weekend (Unlike the Rain Clave of 1991!). We were responsible for the Scoutcraft area and the How Down for lunch on Saturday. We earned the following awards: Honor Lodge, 1st Place Newsletter, 1st Place Where to go Camping, 1st Place Pinewood Derby, 1st Place Camp Wide Game, 1st Place Fancy Dancer (Benji Rodgers), 1st Place Jr Traditional Dancer (Scott Gleiser), 2nd Place Fancy Dancer (Daniel Shope), 3rd Place Team Dance.
Our May Induction Weekend accomplished quite a bit of work in getting the camp ready for another season. Here’s a list of the projects: Replaced door at Central showers, Replaced boards under window at back door at Commissary , Replaced boards under back window at back door at Health Lodge, Removed old window sashes at Frogs Shelter, Built 6 Staff Tent Platforms, Worked on the "Bud Shelter", Spread gravel at end of building near road at Health Lodge. Removed trash & limbs at swimming & boating area, Repaired trail steps with 2 x 4s and rebar at Blackfoot, Weed eat area and clean out leaves at Chapel, Spread gravel under building at Rifle Range, Installed Walk Blocks at Council Ring, Spread leaves around tents to prevent mud splatter at Mohawk, Moved walk blocks back in place at latrine at Mohawk, Stained Latrine & Fly Fishing Box at Waterfront, Stained the Latrine at Sequoia, Stained Latrine at Pawnee, Stained New Shelter at Blackfoot, Stained the building at Rifle Range. Stained Latrine at Mohawk, Stain Building at Handicraft, Cut down maple on right of target line at Rifle Range, Cut down dead maple trees in center of camp at Saura, Cut dead limbs on left as you enter campsite at Delaware, and Cut down several dead trees at Sioux.
Spring Fellowship was a fun event. Then it was time for us to host the Section Conclave again. We had almost 1,000 Arrowmen in attendance. Unfortuantely, the weather did not cooperate on Saturday in that it rained just about all day. However, it did not seem to matter to most of the delegates as they were out and about taking in the many awesome exhibits of the OAX. We earned the following awards: 1st Place Website, 1st Place Newsletter, 1st Place Team Dance, 1st Place Sr. Traditional Dancer, 1st Place Jr. Traditional Dancer, 1st Place Sr. Fancy Dancer, 1st Place Jr. Old Style Dancer, and lots more.
Our May Induction weekend saw us induct the most Ordeal candidates ever for this weekend. Much work was completed in getting the camp ready for another season.
Next it was off to Michigan State University for the National Order of the Arrow Conference. We took a chartered bus riding up with Occoneechee Lodge # 104. All of us thought that being that far north would lead to cooler temperatures. Boy were we wrong! The longer we were there, the hotter it got! In fact, it was 99 degress on Wednesday for Founders Day. Our delegation did extremely well earning the following National Awards: National Champions - Oral History Competition - Ben Stanley, National Champions - Indian Affairs Patch Design Contest, Southern Region Champions - Lodge History Display Board, 4th Place - Fancy Dance Competition - Benji Rodgers, and 7th Place - Team Dance Competition.