Troop 2 takes a trip to the White Mountains, 1936

In July 1936 the troop embarked an excursion to the White Mountains, New Hampshire.
The cost for the three day trip was $3.50, which covered the food enroute. Each boy was expected to cook his own food, and supplies were bought wholesale for the scouts to control costs.

The route traveled was up the Daniel Webster Highway to Woodstock and Lost River, through Franconia Notch to the Old Man in the Mountain, and Echo Lake. The return was via the Crawford and Pinkham Notches. The travelers stopped to check out Newfound Lake on the way North as well, twenty years before the Troop began camping there!

While in the mountains the Troop hiked to a mountain summit and took scenic nature hikes. On the adult leadership and coordination side, Dr. Stetson was in charge of transportation, Mr. Rudolph and Mr. Jordan of the food, and Mr. G. Stinson Lord of the nature hikes and general programming.

Several photos from this first excursion to the North still exist, shown below, and the same route was traced again in 1941 by the Troop, and included a stop for swimming at Newfound Lake.

The Troop continues this tradition of hiking in the White Mountains to this day, and plans are underway for a spring overnight hike this year.



These two photos show the scouts at Newfound Lake along the West Shore Road





The next two photos show roadside stops on the way up. The photo with the old cars is most likely the Old Man in the Mountain viewing location at Cannon Mountain.





The next 5 photos show the Scouts and their leaders hiking and scrambling - perhaps the Lost River, the Flume, or at a scenic stop along the way.







These photos show Scouts at the summit of the mountains, with cairns and trailmarkers clearly visible.






Finally, two photos - one of a Scout showing us his breakfast, the other of a scout enjoying the tram railway.




We are indebted to Mr. Franklin Pratt for saving these photos and many others, and for taking the time to document all of the Troop activities with incredible detail in the Scout News. Without these materials we'd be unable to tell the story of these early scouts and the shared experiences they have with our scouts down through the years and today.

Cub Scouting at the Weymouth Heights Club - 1930's style!

The Weymouth Heights Club sponsors Cub Scout Pack 2, an active, growing and vibrant Pack that has seen explosive growth since it was re-introduced in 2007.
The Pack was first started in March, 1939 at the WHC by Roy Munroe. Mr. Howard Stone was the first Cubmaster, and Mr. Donald Swart, and the Pack met at the Clubhouse twice a month. Mr. Stone unfortunately was obliged to step down soon afterward due to a job change, and was succeeded by Mr. Harold Brown.
Pack growth was so rapid that the group was immediately divided into Dens, and had 45 Cubs within the first few months. Eight Troop 2 Scouts served as Den Chiefs at this time – Ralph McCarthy, William Weir, John Senigo, Gustave Albrecht, John MacKay, and Arthur Hilstrom.

As a bit of history from the Scouting.org website

“In 1930, Cub Scouting was formally launched, with 5,102 boys registered at the end of that first year. By 1933 the time had come to promote Cub Scouting throughout the country as a part of Scouting.

Den mother registration was optional for the first few years. By June 1938, 1,100 den mothers had registered and soon became an important part of Cub Scouting.

The first dens met weekly at a member's home, where boys played games and enjoyed crafts and ceremonies. The pack met weekly or semimonthly for games, den competitions, awards, stunts, and other activities. Cubs advanced from Bobcat (for all new members) to Wolf (age 9), Bear (age 10), and Lion (age 11) and joined a Boy Scout troop at age 12.”

The photo below was taken on the steps of the Children’s Museum in Jamaica Plain, where two Dens and their Den Chiefs went for a picnic. In the picture are Cubscouts George Dunn, Billy McDonald, David Huntoon, Roy Whiteman, Paul Wheeler, Kenneth Young, Carlton McKenzie, William Dunn, John Norve, David McDonald, and Bobby Dizer, with their Den Chiefs Robert Page and William Weir. The adult is likely Mr. Stone or Mr. Swart.



The second photo is from a bit later – October, 1940, and is also of Robert Page’s Den in front of the Weymouth War Memorial near Town Hall.



The third photo appears to be of a group of Cubscouts on a field trip and weenie roast. These are mentioned throughout the Scout News issues from the late 1930's and early 1940's.


We'll continue to keep an eye out for these historic pictures of our Cubs. As you can see, Cub Scouting was and remains a fantastic opportunity for younger troopers to begin on the Scouting trail. As a matter of fact, at our last meeting, during our Scouting Heritage collection presentations, many of the Scouts collections were largely made up of their Cubscout items. These small things - patches, pinewood cars, etc - have a huge meaning to the scouts as they grow through Boy Scouting.

Community Service Opportunity - with cats!

Mr Clancy is going to take this opportunity to help boys work on their Pet Care merit badge.

In order to accomplish this, Mr Clancy needs two things - a formal list of scouts dedicated to the effort, and parameters so they can gauge their progress and ultimate success.   Mr. Clancy will have the outline and materials together, and at the next meeting Monday we'll need to get a formal list together.  This is a 6-8 week commitment for the boys.  If you cannot make it Monday, but are interested, please send an email.

This is also a good community service project for boys who need it for rank advancement.

The cat petting this weekend is postponed to give time to develop the materials and the list.  Our calendar has been updated accordingly.

See other related postings:
Feb 2011 Post
Jan 17 2011 Post
Jan 14 2011 Post
Dec 2010 Post
Nov 2010 Post

Troop 2 Hammocks at Summer Camp

Several photos of our scouters resting comfortably in hammocks have been found in our collection. These span a 30 year period, and include two brothers as well from different periods.

Enjoy!

One Scout, Two Cakes

The following two photos show one of our scouts, Jim Pelletier, displaying two cakes. One was for the bicentennial in 1976 - the other a few years later.

Same guy, different cakes.

Troop Trucks

Troop 2 was fortunate to have the use of a large truck for many years. There were actually two troop trucks. The first was a Chevrolet, the second a 1973 GMC. These were civilian trucks, painted green with a canvas cover on the back to resemble an Army truck. The truck beds were converted to include bench seating, with a gate and belt across the rear for safety.

The trucks served us well over the years, appearing in parades, moving equipment to summer camp, carrying paper during our recycling efforts, and transporting scouts to Valley Pines and other locations.

The truck made it's last appearance in 2007. Due to the high cost of repairs, insurance, and changes in liability and transportation regulations from BSA the truck is no longer in use, and currently is housed in the garage behind the Weymouth Heights Club.

Some photos of the truck over the years are below.