Scouts’ honor

Bill Moon couldn’t tell you how many evenings he has spent in these woods — the sprawling stomping grounds for countless members of the Boy Scouts of America Tuscarora Council.

But when he looks down at the campfire and smiles before leaning back into a wooden bench and gazing, briefly, skyward, it is clear that for him, this particular place feels like home.

He was here 50 years ago when the Scouts’ new camp was officially opened.

“I never felt that I would care about this camp,” he said.

What he came to find, however, is that the location of a tent or a fire wasn’t what mattered — not really.

Being a Tuscarora Scout is about a feeling, a fellowship.

And when, five decades ago, a new camp tradition began deep inside those woods, the memories made there were just as powerful as they would have been anywhere.

“After 50 years, I could never leave it,” Moon said. “To see it still going and the values out here, to know they are still the same as they’ve always been, it’s special.”

As members of the Tuscarora Council prepare to mark two milestones the weekend of Oct. 7 — the 100^thanniversary of the council and the 50^th anniversary of Camp Tuscarora — a group of longtime members gathered to talk about why Scouting has never been more relevant.

But what was striking was how the conversation devolved into jokes, tales of snipe hunts and epic meals — how after all these years, the men gave in to their respective inner-child.

It was, in a sense, just another group of boys having a good time.

“We grow older, but we refuse to grow up,” Larry Wuertzer said. “That’s just the way it goes out here.”

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It’s 19 degrees and Chuck Robinson is in the middle of the woods.

He’s freezing and doesn’t know how to build a fire.

But on that evening, years ago, he learned a valuable lesson about what Scouting is all about from his senior patrol leader.

“He said, ‘I’ll tell you what. You come over and join my fire tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll teach you how to build your own,’” Robinson said.

It felt like “one of the worst days of my life,” but looking back on that experience, he understands that the older Scout taught him much more than how to build a fire — that his patrol leader’s actions exemplified compassion and teamwork.

“That was a long time ago,” Robinson said. “But I’ll never forget it.”

Life lessons learned without knowing, in the moment, you are learning them is a hallmark of the Scout tradition, those gathered at the camp Sept. 7 said.

“When you’re young, it’s just fun,” Jeff Whitener said. “But then, you look back on it and you start to pick up on things.”

An appreciation for the outdoors as boys led to adults who care deeply about protecting the environment.

Engaging in hiking, softball, and other physical activities led to adults who understand the importance of fitness and healthy lifestyles.

Problem-solving in the middle of the woods created men who refused to back down from challenges in the workforce, military, and political arena.

And perhaps most importantly, being led by other youths made them want to “figure things out on our own.”

“It taught us to not be totally dependent on others,” Moon said.

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John Compton remembers sending a group of Scouts on a snipe hunt.

“You bring in some Cornish hens for the next night,” he said. “You cook it up and say, ‘I don’t know where you older boys went, but the young kids brought the snipe in.’”

But the pranks and the stories born from them highlight what he feels is perhaps the most significant aspect of Scouting.

“I’ve always felt like Scouting was a safe environment,” he said.

For Compton, the fellowship fostered inside the Tuscarora Council provided protection for those who grew up in its ranks.

“If you were out here and made a mistake or fell down, cut your finger with a pocketknife, broke a leg, whatever, you were in an environment where there were enough adults or Scouts around that could take care of the situation,” he said. “When you’re young, knowing it’s OK when things like that happen means a lot.”

Whitener agreed.

There was something special, he said — something unique to Scouting — about feeling safe and secure under the supervision of people other than your parents.

“The leaders that I had … when you went off camping, your parents left you under their care,” he said. “They were my dads on the weekend or however long we were gone.”

And while they seemed “old” back then to the teenagers they were charged with looking after, they were, in reality, only in their early 20s. So, ultimately, they forged relationships that lasted a lifetime.

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The milestones they will celebrate in October started, sort of, in Goldsboro between 1910 and 1912 after “Boys Scouts of America” was incorporated under laws of the District of Columbia.

Capt. Edgar H. Bain, who had run “The Boy’s Battalion” until that time, started a new group under the name of “American Boy Scouts.”

Then, in 1913, Mount Olive banker Neadley Morris Cox organized Troop 34, a lone troop under the Boy Scouts of America, and served as its scoutmaster.

But it wasn’t until June 15, 1916, when Congress granted the BSA its charter, that a more organized push for a local Scout presence took hold.

Later that year, S.F. Teague, the principal of Goldsboro High School, became a member of the newly formed Boy Scouts.

So, he called a meeting of boys in the basement of the new Grant Building to organize a Scout troop. Some of the members of that troop — Troop 1 — were Charles Norwood, Hart Norwood Ogden Parker, Seymour Johnson, Gordon Maxwell, Lamont Edgerton, and Red Dortch.

By the summer of 1918, Troop 1 was fairly well-organized, with Otto V. Hamrick and Bill Hosea at the helm.

And then, in July 1923, the Tuscarora Council was organized with John L. Borden named council president.

At the time, the council consisted of five counties — Wayne, Johnston, Duplin, Lenoir, and Greene — and had 24 organized troops with 474 Boy Scouts.

But the council still needed campgrounds.

And thanks to Solomon Weil, in 1929 the Tuscarora organization got them.

The council’s first permanent camp was located east of Dudley on 45 acres donated by Weil. The grounds served local Scouts until it was closed in 1972 and replaced by Camp Tuscarora.

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Despite their affection for the Scouts, it is not lost on the group that gathered at Camp Tuscarora that times have changed — that like other organizations, their beloved “family” is no longer the only game in town.

“When I was a kid in Goldsboro, you had the Boys Club and the Boy Scouts,” Moon said. “You didn’t have all these traveling teams for baseball and everything else. When we have our summer camp program out here, most every night we have Scouts that leave to go play a ballgame.”

But Whitener said meeting young people where they are has helped keep Scouting relevant.

“We still teach hands-on, old-school type things, but we do take advantage of technology because our kids are learning it everywhere else,” he said. “You’ve got to meet them at a point where it works for both sides.”

And including girls into the program — a decision made in 2019 — was a huge step for the organization, he added.

“These young ladies are amazing,” Whitener said. “The merit badge sash — those patches were sewn from here to down here. They came on board and decided they were gonna whoop butt, and they have.”

But for Robinson, what will allow Scouting to endure — and what will keep men like him coming back to camp for as long as his body will allow it — is something bigger.

“It’s all about the mission,” he said. “The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes.”

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Lifetimes.

Not your time as a Cub or a Webelo.

Not every day until you earn your Eagle.

Not until you get married and have a family of your own.

Scouting, the men said, is something that never leaves you.

And that makes it unique from other extra-curricular activities young people are involved in.

“Take the Eagle Scout for example. That’s the difference,” Whitener said. “When a Scout makes Eagle, they carry that for the rest of their life. If you played football in high school — even if you go on and play in college — well, when you’re our parents’ age and you look back, you can say, ‘I played football.’ But if you’re an Eagle Scout, you’re an Eagle for life. And that opens the door for scholarships, jobs, and opportunities.”

So, when the Tuscarora Scouts converge on their 50-year-old camp the weekend of Oct. 7 by the thousands, it will serve as another opportunity to come together as a family forever bound by the lessons learned in those woods.

And it will be one more chance for the self-described “old-timers” to turn back the clock and unleash their respective inner-child — snipe hunts and all.

“This is the comradery that we still enjoy. We’re comfortable just being here,” Whitener said. “This is a home away from home. We’ve all spent, the hours here and the nights here, I can’t even tell you how many there have been — probably years’ worth. But that’s what it’s all about.”

Moon, looking back down at that fire, agreed.

“There is something about this place,” he said. “You can’t let go of it. I’ll never let go of it.”