Tim McPhee in the news!

http://weymouth.wickedlocal.com/article/20151123/NEWS/151128448/?Start=2

By Ed Baker
ebaker@wickedlocal.com

Posted Nov. 23, 2015 at 2:57 PM

WEYMOUTH

A field of flags memorial being planned at the corner of Washington and Middle Streets where Weymouth’s first town hall was built in 1852 has a commemorative headstone that recognizes the site’s historicity.

Troop 2 Boy Scout Timothy McPhee, 17, said he recently installed the marker and a black bench with a team of six scouts to earn credits for an Eagle Scout badge.

“A guy from my troop suggested talking to the (Weymouth) historical commission,” McPhee said. “They wanted a more permanent structure here. The town wants to turn the corner in a little park and they want to open the area up and make it pretty.”

The Weymouth Veterans Council intends to place a flag on the lawn at the street corner to honor the town’s fallen military personnel during the days leading up to Veterans Day and Memorial Day each year, according to George Pontes, Weymouth Veterans Services director.

The sloping hill at the street corners is also where Weymouth’s early settlers engaged in battles with the Native American Wampanoag tribe during “King Phillip’s War” in 1675, according to the Weymouth Historical Commission.

McPhee said J.F. Price Company and Bates Brothers donated an 18-foot Weymouth granite headstone that notes the location of the town hall, which eventually became Weymouth’s first high school.

“The DPW moved the stone here,” he said.

“We had to do a lot of cleanup,” McPhee said. “We had to take down two or three trees and clear some brush. We did it in one-and-a-half months.”

He said a scouting team helped him remove overgrowth, spread mulch on the soil and install a black bench for visitors to relax.

“The bench and mulch were donated by Ace Hardware,” McPhee said. “It is really great.”

The marker is flanked by two small mum plants.

“We will be adding some other shrubbery during the springtime,” McPhee said.

McPhee began his Boy Scout involvement as a Cub Scout while in first grade.

“I started out with Pack 73,” McPhee said. “I just like it. I am one of those people who have to have something to do all the time.”

He said being a scout has allowed him to enjoy a variety of activities like campouts and learning new skills. “There is always an accomplishment or work to do to get a merit badge,” McPhee said.

McPhee said he has earned approximately 46 merit badges as a scout.

“I’ve earned a merit badge in science and growing things,” he said. “I would have like to have gone a merit badge in life-guarding, but I can’t swim well.”

McPhee said he has learned how to endure various weather extremes while on campouts.

“The coldest night we had on a campout was when it went down to 7 degrees,” he said.

McPhee said within hours the temperature warmed up past freezing and it began to rain.

“We then threw all the pallets on the fire and that created a dome around you so that the rain evaporated before it could land on you,” he said.

McPhee said his involvement in the scout program helped him overcome shyness while attending primary school.

“It got me out of my bubble,” he said. “I used to be a socially awkward person and it led me into new and different things. It showed me leadership skills I have now and to be diligent.”

McPhee said he belongs to a senior troop patrol that instructs younger scouts under the supervision of the scoutmaster and assistant scoutmasters.

“We open up meetings and close them,” McPhee said. “We put people in charge of ceremonies.”

McPhee said the patrol team’s duties also include assigning duties to younger scouts like sweeping a campsite.

“We have to make sure everything goes back to the way it was before we got there,” he said. “We also give the middle school age scouts responsibilities like being the chaplain who gives the service prayer.”

McPhee said his involvement with scouting helped him discover an ability to cook while on campouts.

“I really like to cook,” he said. “I just got accepted into the Culinary Institute of America in New York. I like cooking turkey pot pies, sirloin, and tenderloin.”