by Ray Ezell, Asst. Southern Region-Area 7 Commissioner This essay presents a brief biographical sketch of John Wilford Fix of Bristol, Tennessee, and later Staunton, Virginia, and how he influenced the young Boy Scouts of American (BSA) organizations in these cities. His volunteer and professional careers in Scouting spanned 43 years, and he made an… Read More From Tenderfoot Scout to “Mr. Scout”
by Ray Ezell, Asst. Southern Region-Area 7 Commissioner The beginning of the Boy Scouting story in Culpeper, Virginia extends back 108 years to at least 1912 (or maybe before) in this small town about 50 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. The early history of Scouting here is rich and deep. The first Scoutmaster of Culpeper… Read More The Origins of Scouting in Culpeper, Virginia
by Ray Ezell, Virginia Headwaters Council Historian This essay is a review and (somewhat) systematic compilation of facts describing the development of black Boy Scouting across a large swath of central Virginia. This essay is not intended to be completely comprehensive–it is a work in progress. However it is designed to be thorough on the… Read More Review of Black Boy Scouting in Central Virginia, 1915-1949
by Ray Ezell, Assistant Southern Region-Area 7 Commissioner Boy Scouting in the City of Charlottesville, Virginia is almost as old as the Scouting movement itself which was incorporated in the United States in 1910. By at least 1913, Scouting had strongly taken hold in Charlottesville primarily under the auspices of the University of Virginia (UVa)… Read More The Charlottesville Council’s Sudden Rise and Failure, 1914-1916
by Ray Ezell, Asst. Southern Region-Area 7 Commissioner The city of Staunton, Virginia holds the noteworthy distinction of producing the first two Eagle Scouts in the state of Virginia three years after the incorporation of the Boy Scouting movement in 1910. The March 1913 edition of Boys’ Life, the national magazine of the Boy Scouts… Read More Who Were Virginia’s First Eagle Scouts?
by Ray Ezell, Assistant Southern Region-Area 7 Commissioner Author’s Note: This month marks the 84th anniversary of the Orange Boy Scout hike to a prominent Orange and Culpeper Counties’ landmark and prominent natural geologic formation just north of the community of Rapidan, Virginia. The following essay includes an account of this hiking trip found in… Read More Ain’t No COVID-19 Virus on Buzzard Mountain
In order to more accurately reflect the scope and content of the historic Boy Scouting essays that I post to this blog, this site has been rebranded with the title above. I anticipate that the rebranding will draw more interest from those passing by that are interested in Boy Scouting history. However, an unfortunate side… Read More Introducing Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project
by Ray Ezell, Assistant Southern Region-Area 7 Commissioner In late 2019, the Board of the Stonewall Jackson Area Council (SJAC) chose to abandon the name of their council that had been a powerful banner to Scouting in central Virginia since 1927. Now in light of this transition (either welcomed or not by current scouters, boosters,… Read More Before Stonewall Jackson…the Staunton Virginia Council, 1920-1924
by Ray Ezell, Assistant Southern Region-Area 7 Commissioner It’s never an easy thing to see a loved one die prematurely, let alone in an accident. It is especially hard when the victim is a teen-aged boy who is struck down before his life has a chance to develop. This blog essay presents just such a… Read More Gordonsville Boy Scout Killed by Train, 1920
by Ray Ezell, Asst Southern Region-Area 7 Commissioner Probably one of the most unique acts of patriotic service attempted by Boy Scouts in Virginia during World War I was the relocation of approximately 1000 scouts in June 1917 to two counties on Virginia’s Eastern Shore to harvest 3 to 4 million barrels of potatoes from… Read More The Great Potato Harvest of World War I…that never was
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Musings on the history of Fredericksburg, public history, the Civil War, and the Army of the Potomac--whatever I'm working on.
Exploring the Civil War-era landscape in the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania region.
Unraveling the past of the Americas, while preserving that past for the future.
A Journal of the Digitization of a Civil War Battle
Voices from The Library of Virginia
Offering engaging perspectives on the Revolutionary War Era
Providing fresh perspectives on America's defining event
Central Virginia Boy Scouting Preservation Project 