Thursday, July 12, 2007
Teaching boys to be men
John Long
Recent columns
From the RoundTable blog
It's hard to call something a well-guarded secret when it takes up half a county and is visited by thousands of teenage boys and their leaders every summer. But the Blue Ridge Scout Reservation in Pulaski County is indeed unknown to most of you outside of the arcane subculture of Boy Scouting.
Allow me to describe some of what goes on here at the Scout reservation. Because here, lives are changed. Here, boys grow into men. Here, society improves.
I'm here this week, as I have been for at least part of every summer except one since 1978. Specifically I'm at Camp Ottari, one of two base camps on the reservation. Ottari is younger, smaller and hillier than Powhatan, the other base camp only a few minutes away by car, or a magnificent afternoon hike away by foot.
In between are more than 16,000 acres and at least 10 other specialized programs. Scouts can opt for Fish Camp and spend a week baiting hoooks, or enroll at the nearby Claytor Lake Aquatics Base, where their hair seldom has time to dry.
Ottari is not your father's Scout camp. In the air-conditioned classrooms of the Welcome Center, Scoutmasters have access to wireless Internet and, some days, a passable cup of coffee. It might not sound like roughing it, but many leaders can only get a week off to serve at camp provided they do some telecommuting.
Nearby is the health lodge, where a medically-trained staff member treats anything from minor cuts to major cases of homesickness. The Boy Scouts of America places a high priority on safety, and it shows. It wasn't necessary only a few years ago, but I have a red band on my wrist that certifies my authorized presence here. It's a measure against predators sneaking onto the reservation.
Scattered through camp are the various program areas, such as handicraft and nature. The primary work of the boys in camp is to earn merit badges in these areas. Scoutcraft and shooting sports offer challenging opportunities for merit badges not easily earned back home.
Up one hill (everything but the lake is uphill at Ottari) are the program areas for Brownsea Island, a curriculum for first-year campers. Designed to acquaint them with the rudiments of Scouting and camping, it's named for the British island where Lord Robert Baden-Powell established Boy Scouting 100 years ago this summer.
Another hub of activity is the trading post, selling supplies, souvenirs and snacks to boys who didn't finish their green beans at dinner. Down the meandering gravel roadway (speed limit for the rare vehicle allowed: 5 mph) you can't miss the waterfront. Swimming, canoeing, rowing, lifesaving, even sailing are taught on the 15-acre lake.
Overhead runs a spectacular 850-foot zipline, giving daring but well-harnassed Scouts the ride of their lives, suspended on a cable 60 feet over the water. It's one of the longest ziplines on the East Coast. My guess is most Scouts don't tell Mom about it until after their ride.
Wander a bit farther and you'll find the Little Laurel Woodshop, a unique facility right out of the 19th century. Scouts and leaders have the chance here to practice woodworking old-style; there's not a power tool in sight except a grinder to sharpen the handtools. By now all of the benches in the dining hall have been handmade in the woodshop by visiting troops, and decorated to commemorate their week in camp.
Another 10-minute stroll takes you back another century. At Mountain Man Camp, Scouts live for a week like their pioneer ancestors, learning blacksmithing, tanning, riflery and other antiquated skills. But along the way they also learn teamwork, self-reliance and an appreciation for the environment, all lessons very applicable for teenagers today.
Mountain Man might be a good metaphor for Scouting itself. In some ways it seems quaint, archaic, unsuited to modern life. But dig deeper and you'll find much more: a program well-designed and time-tested to teach a boy to be a man. And a good man at that.
As the boys enter the camp, roadside signs proclaim to them Twelve Points of the Scout Law: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Imagine a future populated by a few million men who learned to embody these traits as boys.
From these hills, it's not so hard to see that future.
In my next column, I'll tell you more about what happens elsewhere at the Blue Ridge Scout Reservation, and why it matters. A lot.
Long, director of the Salem Museum and a history teacher at Roanoke College, is a Roanoke Times columnist.
