Goshen Scout Reservation

Goshen Scout Reservation
Owner	National Capital Area Council
Location	340 Millard Burke Memorial Highway (VA Route 601) Goshen, Virginia 22439
Lake Merriweather Camp PMI Camp Bowman Goshen Dam Camp Post Camp Olmsted Camp Ross Camp Baird Camp Marriott
Coordinates	37°58′01″N79°28′10″W / 37.967°N 79.4695°W / 37.967; -79.4695
Camp size	4,000-acre (16 km2)
Founded	1967 (1967)
Website GoToGoshen.org

Goshen Scout Reservation is a Boy Scout reservation designated for camping, swimming, hiking and other activities. Goshen is home to six Boy Scouts of America resident summer camps located near Goshen, Virginia, and is owned and operated by the National Capital Area Council. The camps are all built around Lake Merriweather. Opened to Scouts in the summer of 1967, today it has six different camps covering over 4,000 acres (16 km²) of land. Within Goshen there are three Boy Scout camps, two Cub Scout camps, and one high adventure camp.

History

In 1960, the National Capital Area Council purchased land that bordered the Goshen and Little North Mountain Wildlife Management Area and Little Calfpasture River outside of Goshen, Virginia for $300,000. ^[1] U.S. Steel public relations executive William G. Whyte helped acquire this tract of more than 4,000 acres (16 km²) for the Scouts. ^[2] The 425-acre (1,720,000 m²) Lake Merriweather was created by damming the Little Calfpasture River in 1966, ^[1] before it joins with the Calfpasture to become the Maury, with a structure 38 feet (12 m) high and 1,300 feet (400 m) long. ^[3] Lake Merriweather was named for Marjorie Merriweather Post, an ardent supporter of Scouting in the Washington, DC area. ^{[4] : 51} The individual camps bear the names of other significant individuals or corporations who supported National Capital Scouting as well. Camp Marriott owes its name to the Marriott International hospitality corporation while Camp PMI refers to Parking Management Incorporated (better known as PMI), a large parking company in the DC Metro region. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the reservation, the council hosted a camporee for youth, alumni, and families on Memorial Day weekend 2017. ^[5]

High Adventure Camp

Camp Baird

Camp Baird is the base camp for the Lenhok'sin High Adventure program. Lenhok'sin offers "backpacking, caving, rappelling, horsemanship, black powder rifle shooting, fishing, and canoeing" ^{[6] : 34} The backpacking typically takes five days to travel over the "rough terrain in the Alleghany Mountains." ^[7]

Boy Scout Camps

Camp Bowman

Camp Bowman was the first camp to be built on the Goshen Scout Reservation, and is located directly across Lake Merriweather from Camp Olmsted. ^{[8] : 304} "Camp Bowman's entrance is just beyond the dam that compounds water for the lake." ^{[8] : 304}

Programs

For four weeks each summer the camp is visited by 500 participants. ^[9] Camp Bowman is the only camp at the Goshen Scout Reservation where all units use patrol cooking, rather than dining hall or meals picked up like take-out ^[10] in a system that reservation camps call heater stack. Each patrol cooks at their campsite using a propane stove or campfire. ^[11]

Facilities

Camp facilities include structures for administration, aquatics ^[12] , archery range, campfire amphitheater, chapel, commissary, handicraft pavilion, leader lounge, nature, parade field, quartermaster, rifle range, Scoutcraft, shooting sports, shotgun range, shower house, and water tank. ^[13]

Current Symbol of Camp Marriot, originally based of off a Black Widow spider.

Camp Marriott

Camp Marriott is one of the seven camps on the Goshen Scout Reservation. Originally founded in 1969, the camp was named after the Marriott family, whom gave large sums of money to the Boy Scouts of America.

On June 26, 2016 twins Eliana and Jeremy Bookbinder, both with experience handling birds from volunteering at the Clearwater Nature Center in Clinton, Maryland, found an injured young bald eagle near the camp. A supervisor instructed the two to leave the badly injured animal alone. The two captured the bird and took it to a wildlife rehabilitator. Citing the policy that "no wild animals are to be handled or captured (except by properly trained staff)" the two were fired. The eagle, that had a wing broken in multiple places, was so badly injured that it was euthanized. ^[14]

Programs

Camp Marriott contains twelve campsites. There are two rifle pavilions, a shotgun range, and one archery range. The waterfront area is one of the largest on the lake, with close proximity to the administration building. For four weeks each summer the camp is visited by 700 participants. ^[9] Camp Marriott is the only camp at the Goshen Scout Reservation to offer a full provisional camp, where individual scouts come to form a temporary troop for the week of program.

Camp Olmsted

Named after General George H. Olmsted, Camp Olmsted has a Tech Center where technology related merit badges are taught.

Webelos camps

Camp PMI

Camp P.M.I. is a camp for 9- to 10-year-old Webelos located in the Shenandoah Valley near Goshen, Virginia. ^{[15] [16]}

Camp Ross

Camp Ross is one of two Webelo camps at Goshen Scout Reservations. It is the farthest one away from Camp Post.

Other camps

Camp Post

Camp Post is the central administration area, home to several intercamp programs such as Project COPE, which includes a climbing tower and ropes course. ^{[8] : 286} It is also home to many administrative staff, including the reservation director and camping specialist. Camp Post is named for Marjorie Merriweather Post.

Family Camp

Family Camp is a now unused camp which can be used upon request by individuals and groups. It is located almost directly across from Camp Ross waterfront and functions as the Camp Baird Waterfront as well as the Lenhok'sin Caving Outpost during the summer. ^{[8] : 107}

See also

• Goshen Pass
• Goshen Pass Natural Area Preserve

External links

• www.gotogoshen.org

References

1. "Chronology of Construction, Operation, and Maintenance of Lake Merriweather and Goshen Dam" (PDF) (Press release). Rockbridge Area Conservation Council. January 16, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
2. Bernstein, Adam (April 27, 2010). "U.S. Steel executive and friend of President Ford". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C., United States. pp. –5. ISSN   0190-8286. ProQuest   89270819.
3. Associated Press. (September 3, 2010). "Virginia Residents Worry About 'High Hazard' Dam". Claims Journal. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
4. Evans, Rick (December 2009). 50 Year Adventure. Rick Evans. ISBN   978-0-557-12732-0.
5. "Goshen 50th Anniversary". National Capital Area Council. Boy Scouts of America. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
6. Boys' Life. Boy Scouts of America. December 1988.
7. "Falls Church Scouts complete backpacking trek : Falls Church Times". Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
8. Virginia Wildlife. Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries. 1970. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
9. Corum, Samuel (February 14, 2017). "Camp Bowman" . Retrieved March 11, 2017.
10. depending on location called take-out, takeout, carry-out, take-away, or parcel meals
11. Patrol cooking:
    Neuland, Dan (July 22, 2012). "Boys and Scout Camp are a Summer Tradition". Frederick News-Post. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
    Gangsaas, Anna (2017). Leader's Guide. Camp Bowman.^: 9
12. Chris Lantos Waterfront
13. Facilities:
    Bhat, A (July 24, 2016). "New Kayak Rack at Goshen's Camp Bowman". Troop 233 of Bethesda, Maryland. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
    Gangsaas, Anna (2017). "Camp Bowman Map" (PDF). National Capital Area Council.
    Gangsaas, Anna (2017). "Camp Bowman". Camp Bowman. Goshen Scout Reservation. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
14. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/two-boy-scout-camp-employees-say-there-were-fired-for-rescuing-an-injured-bald-eagle/2016/07/11/5542b3b6-4481-11e6-8856-f26de2537a9d_story.html
15. "Camp PMI – Goshen Scout Reservation". www.gotogoshen.org.
16. "PMI Staff Created Website: Lots of Info". Archived from the original on October 27, 2009.