Northeastern Pennsylvania Council

Northeastern Pennsylvania Council #501
Owner Boy Scouts of America
Headquarters Moosic, Pennsylvania
Country United States
Founded 1990
President Jerry Champi
Commissioner Rick Stritzinger
Scout Executive Mark Barbernitz
Website
nepabsa.org

Northeastern Pennsylvania Council, with headquarters in Moosic, Pennsylvania, formed in 1990 from the merger of Forest Lakes Council and Penn Mountains Council of the Boy Scouts of America. It covers the metropolitan area of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The council serves Lackawanna, Luzerne, Pike, Wayne, Wyoming counties, and portions of Susquehanna county.

Organization

The council is geographically divided into two districts to serve scout units:

  • Dan Beard District: includes school districts in Lackawanna, Pike, Susquehanna, and Wayne counties.
  • Two Mountains District: includes school districts in Luzerne and Wyoming counties.

Camps

The council manages two camps: Goose Pond Scout Reservation, located in Paupack Township, Pennsylvania, near Lake Wallenpaupack, and Camp Acahela, located in Tobyhanna Township, Pennsylvania, near the confluence of the Lehigh River and Tobyhanna Creek.

Goose Pond Scout Reservation

Goose Pond Scout Reservation
Location Paupack Township, PA 18438
Country United States
Coordinates 41°24′16″N 75°16′22″W / 41.4044°N 75.2728°W / 41.4044; -75.2728
Founded 1920
Camp Director David Srebro
Website
gpsr.nepabsa.org

Goose Pond, the lake around which the whole camp is based, is a 42-acre glacial lake surrounded by hillsides of forests rich in evergreens, hardwoods, and other fauna. The total area of the camp is 542 acres (2.19 km2) which includes the lake. The camp is close to many of the sites on the northern end of the Pocono Plateau, Scranton, and the tri-state region.[1]

Goose Pond Scout Reservation has been in continuous operation as a boy scout summer camp since 1920.[2] Goose Pond's resident Boy Scout summer camp season runs seven weeks from late June through mid August during which typically over fifteen hundred scouts and leaders visit the camp. During summer camp, a staff of scouts provide merit badge courses that scouts can attend during the week. Registration for the summer program typically starts at the end of the previous season.[3] The summer camp sponsors the Voyager Program to offer High Adventure experiences to older scouts and the Pathways Program to give first-year campers scout skill training. During the non-summer season the camp supports events such as Order of the Arrow Ordeal weekends, Cub Scout programs, unit weekend camping, council leadership courses, and the Klondike Derby. The camp also supports a high and low Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience (COPE) Course throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons.

Camp Features

  • 11 campsites: Beaver, Capouse, Delaware, Iroquois, Lenape, Niagara, Pawnee, Pioneer, Seneca, Shawnee, and Slocum. All are available in the non-summer season for unit camping. During the summer camp season, the Pawnee site is reserved for camp staff. All except Pioneer offer platform tents during the summer season. Pioneer is a primitive site for units seeking an outpost-style experience, complete with pit latrines. Most of these sites were established in the early 1950s, though the Delaware and Lenape sites were established in the 2000s.
  • The Joseph J. Jermyn Assembly Hall was built in 1923 with an expansion added in 1993. It serves as the camp's main dining facility, serving thousands of meals a summer. Hundreds of plaques donated by troops, patrols, and camp staff cover the upper walls and rafters. The earliest plaques date back to 1951.
  • The Dickson Lodge serves as the summer camp program's headquarters for its nature merit badges and is available as a camping lodge in the non-summer seasons.
  • The Handicraft Lodge houses the summer camping program's craft-oriented merit badge courses and serves as a camping lodge in the non-summer seasons. The building was constructed in 1930. It was most recently renovated in 2009 to include a covered porch and rooms for lodge camping.
  • The Joseph J. Jermyn Administration Building was constructed in 1926. It houses the camp office and trading post on the first floor along with some storage rooms. The second floor contains an office for the program director and program staff, a staff lounge, and a conference room for staff and troop leader meetings.
  • The Shapiro-Everly Reception and First Aid Building, better known as the Health Lodge, is located right beyond the main entrance gateway to the camp. The building is divided in two with one half serving as the medical officer's station and quarters and the other half serving as the camp director's quarters. It was constructed in 1957.

In addition to the primary buildings, there are various other smaller structures such as the pavilion across from the dining hall, the Cook's Cabin for the kitchen staff, the shower house, the pump house, and the maintenance shed (originally a pasteurization plant for the early camp). The shower house, renovated in 2014, features individual shower/restroom rooms.

Camp History Highlights

William "Green Bar Bill" Hillcourt attended a Wood Badge course at Goose Pond in September 1992 by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Boy Scout Council, at which time he signed a structural support beam in the camp dining hall. Since Mr. Hillcourt departed soon afterward for a trip to Sweden, during which he died on November 9, 1992, the camp claims its Wood Badge course was the last official US Scouting event attended by William Hillcourt.[2]

Goose Pond Scout Reservation's annual summer camping program has been continuously conducted since 1920. The camp claims its summer camping program is the fifth longest running Boy Scout summer camp program in the United States.[4][5][note 1]

Early in its history, Goose Pond Scout Reservation often sent hiking contingents to Daniel Carter Beard's Outdoor School 12 miles away in Lackawaxen Township, Pennsylvania. The camp is in the process of incorporating the last log cabin (Dan Beard's 1926 Kiva style headquarters cabin) from this site into its own facilities.[6]

Camp Acahela

Camp Acahela
Location Blakeslee, PA
Country United States
Coordinates 41°07′08″N 75°38′02″W / 41.1190°N 75.6340°W / 41.1190; -75.6340
Founded 1919
Camp Director Bryan Fisk
Website
www.nepabsa.org/camp-acahela

Camp Acahela was founded in 1919.[1] The camp is located in the village of Blakeslee, PA on a peninsula formed by the joining of the Lehigh River and the Tobyhanna Creek. The camp has a total area of 242 acres covered by a variety of landforms and vegetation, ranging from heavily wooded ridges and cliffs, to wide open parade fields, to shady groves of ancient fir trees that provide a wide variety of camping opportunities year-round for every type of Scouting unit. From 1919 until 1991 the camp hosted a boy scout summer camp program. Since 1992 the camp has offered an annual Cub Scout Resident camping program during the summer months, starting in late June. The resident program provides cub scout packs with five-day and three-day options, as well as day camping experiences.

Camp Features

  • 6 Platform Tent Campsites: Blackfeet, Blackfoot, Crockett, Lucky 7, Lumberjack, and Trailwood.
  • 4 Primitive Campsites: Eagle's Nest, Large Pines, Pinewood, and Small Pines.
  • Sporting Activity Sites: BB Range, Archery Field, Swimming Pool, Obstacle Course, Activity Field.
  • Shower House: a new shower/restroom facility with individual rooms completed in 2017.
  • Dining Hall: Besides a cafeteria, the building also houses the climbing wall facility.

During the non-summer season the camp supports other events such as Order of the Arrow Ordeal weekends, council training courses, and Klondike Derbies. The camp is available for weekend camping reservations. Its location offers weekend campers access to many activities in the Pocono area.

Order of the Arrow

Lowwapaneu Lodge 191
Website
http://lowwapaneu.org

Northeastern Pennsylvania Council is served by Order of the Arrow Lowwapaneu Lodge 191. The name "Lowwapaneu" contains the Lenape words for "north" and "east." The lodge's totem is a fire surrounded by a four-color Circle of Life. The Lodge's number is based on the date of the Lodge's first charter: January 1, 1991.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ David L. Eby's research on the oldest Boy Scout camps in the United States of America identifies many of the camps founded in the US in the 1910s period. News announcements about camp closures or conversions to Cub Scout camping programs or to weekend camping programs show several of these no longer operate as Boy Scout summer camps. Camp Book II, a report from over twenty years of research on camp openings and closures that cross-references dates of camp patches for patch collectors, agrees with the dates in Eby's work and lists only four camps that have been running boy scout summer camp programs longer than Goose Pond Scout Reservation: Owasippe Scout Reservation (Twin Lake, MI), Yawgoog Scout Reservation (Rockville, RI), Camp Friedlander (Loveland, OH), and Camp Parsons (Hood Canal, WA).

References

  1. 1 2 NEPA Council Site
  2. 1 2 Kameroski, Thomas (2011). A History of Goose Pond Scout Reservation. T.A. Kameroski.
  3. ↑ "Boy Scout Camping At GPSR". www.nepabsa.org. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
  4. ↑ Eby, David L. "America's Oldest Boy Scout Camps". Retrieved August 29, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Camp Book II". Retrieved August 29, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Dan Beard Cabin Restoration Project". Retrieved August 29, 2017.
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