Scouting Finds
The Boy Scouts were founded in Britain by Robert Baden-Powell in 1908. The Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1910 in Silver Bay, NY, by W.D. Boyce. He was inspired while on a visit to London when a Boy Scout helped him to cross a street and refused a tip. I’ve never been to London, but that must have been some street!
The Boy Scout emblem (fleur-de-lis) was used early on in the Scouting movement. A few nattering nabobs of negativity accused Scouting of being a military movement, and claimed the fleur-de-lis was nothing more than a spearhead; the emblem of battle.
Youth can generally join the Boy Scouts normally, at age 10, or in the fifth grade. The Cub Scouts are for those in kindergarten through fifth grade. I was a Cub Scout for about a year around 1967, but I left the pack when my family moved to Florida the next year. Two things I remember about my time in the Scouts were making a stepstool, which I still have to this day, and making a duck costume and wearing it in a parade in Chambersburg. Why a duck, I don’t have the foggiest idea. I’m thinking maybe it was a Christmas Parade in late November, but I am not positive. Disclaimer: My memory isn’t as sharp as it used to be. I’m at the age where I hide my own plastic Easter eggs, and then look for them a week or so later. I have a 79.2% success rate. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I’ve never seen any photos of our Scout pack in said costumes.
Now, back to the main topic: One of my favorite places to detect is an old Girl Scout camp that’s on public land. It was a camp from 1921 to 1967. Although I’m recovering less and less each time I go, it’s still fun going back and seeing if there’s anything left. I have recovered quite a few coins from this old camp. I found one of my best coins there in 2019. It was a 1917 Type I Standing Liberty quarter in really nice condition (see my Flintlock mechanism, circa 1750-1840; 1917 Type I Standing Liberty Quarter post for more info on this find.)
A meeting in 1911 with Robert Baden-Powell inspired Juliette Gordon Low to establish the Girl Scouts in 1912 in Savannah, GA. The Girl Scouts of the USA have six grade level classifications: Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior, and Ambassador. These levels correspond to specific grade levels in school, from kindergarten through 12th grade. The Girl Scout emblem is known as a “Trefoil,” and is a stylized three-leaf-clover.
Were you ever a Girl or Boy Scout? What are your memories of those times? Let us know here: