Boy Scout Troop 277 was starting to earn the reputation of being more of a camping club than a serious Scouting organization. It was a loose assembly of boys of Scouting age who gathered at Christ Church, or occasionally at the Palm Valley Community Center, for Tuesday night games. It was the early 1970s and the Troop was in trouble.
After years of strong community support for Scouting in PV, the Troop had hit a rough patch as camping and outdoor recreation took the spotlight over the oath and motto. The Troop would have disappeared entirely had it not been for a handful of parents, volunteers and boys, who kept the lamps lit through that decade of change. Dues paid in full.
These irregular meetings 50 years ago involved a lot of running around, a few pinewood-type derbies, a lot of stories about squirrel hunting and a camping trip every month or so in the spring through the late fall. In many ways though, Scout nights became an after-hours continuation of PV/PV Elementary, but without the guard rails set by Mr. McLatchey.
The stand of pine trees north of Christ Church parking lot had become a team-on-team proving ground for capture the flag, with older boys against younger. Advancement had stalled nearly entirely, and the National Scouting Experience was facing its own internal challenges. A new edition of the Scout’s Handbook was making the rounds, but in PV, no one had come close to the ultimate Scouting achievement in many years. The rank of Eagle Scout was vacant. Mr. Harrison, the president of Ponte Vedra Club, acted as our Scoutmaster and camping host. The national “Improved Scouting Programs” of 1972 and “skill awards” had not yet found their way to PV.
The age gap between older boys and younger boys was becoming an issue. We were the initiates, and there was an initiation for just about everything. First camping trip? Initiation. First day trip to the ranch? Initiation. First time standing at the end of the rickety dock on the pond below the Lodge at the end of Neck Road? Initiation. Snipes were very real and hunting them with flashlights after midnight was an openly dreaded mystery. We were warned by the adults to stay away from the Indian mounds.
The older boys had experienced their own rites of passage, and now, the traditions were being passed down. Getting lost in the woods for the first time was a particularly unnerving experience. Being blindfolded and led off to the edges of the Guana wilderness to be left alone to eventually find our way back to camp was never as bad as it sounded. But it was certainly the outdoor equivalent of learning to swim by being tossed into the deep end of a pool.
For the dads and adult leaders, they would enjoy their own camping experience. They would sleep in top-up trailer tents, build their own fires, and cook their own meals. Scouts were left to create their own experiences in large 10-man tents, cooking on out-of-date camp stoves, unloading coolers with food, beverages and snacks while protecting the ever-present chest of ice, compliments of the Ponte Vedra Club.
A shotgun or two, a rifle, ammunition and targets would be kept locked in the trunk of one of the adults’ cars parked on the edge of camp. Mr. Harrison wore a pistol in a holster on his belt. The oldest of the older boys would sleep in that car after the younger Scouts had turned in for the night. Scouting, shooting and camping were all one activity, and it had become the group’s sole identity. No one wore uniforms or participated in ceremonies.
Scouting in the 1970s, as envisioned by the United Way, was rapidly disappearing from PV. Some in Palm Valley suggested a transfer of sponsorship from Christ Church. Some lobbied for the Troop to be relocated to the newly founded Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, but Monsignor Danaher didn’t feel the 73 Catholic families of his newly formed parish could carry the weight when there was a new church to be built.
When a group of dads got together in the mid-’70s, following Jimmy Herberg breaking his collarbone playing a particularly rough game of tag football “after” one of Tuesday night meetings at Christ Church, it was Doug Speed, Sr., who raised his hand when the question of dissolving the Troop was opened to the floor for discussion.
Doug recognized the potential for re-organization. Working closely with Randy Brown, the two set about re-establishing Scouting with the help of Mr. Woolverton and John Veal. In time, the Troop transitioned from the camping club back to the Boy Scouts of America. Many of the older boys simply stopped attending, citing too many rules. And there now seemed to be a growing scarcity of ice on outings, but Mr. Brown worked quietly behind the scenes to remedy the shortage.
Bike hikes were organized. We rode down A1A to St. Augustine and spent the night at the YMCA. We rode up A1A, crossed at Mayport and eventually settled in at the campground at Fort Clinch. Cumberland Island became a much-anticipated annual trip and Lucy Ferguson & family were always gracious with their warm welcomes.
Camping became more skill-oriented with primitive building projects and community service. But despite all the activity, by the late mid-’70s, only 11 boys remained registered in Troop 277. Jim Brown, Randy Brown’s son, carried the torch. Dues paid in full.
The annual beach clean-up from the PV beach barrier at the Inlet, north to the barrier at the Duval County line, brought our service into the public eye. Each year, the Troop would load Grumman canoes onto the canoe trailer and Mr. Brown would drive us to our preferred section of the Suwannee River for a four-day trip that included primitive camping. Scouts began to earn rank.
The Troop’s trajectory improved dramatically when Richard Hostrup arrived in PV to join his father in business. Henry Hostrup was president of Putnam Shipbuilding Corporation in Palatka.
When Richard attended our Troop meeting as a guest speaker one night, he was dressed in a full leader uniform, bringing with him his Kelty pack covered with jamboree patches. His presence generated enthusiasm.
Dick was a former professional Scouting executive in Pennsylvania, and his recommended goal for the Troop was clear: reach at least 75% of the available boys in the Ponte Vedra area within two years.
With his involvement, Troop 277 began holding once-a-month planning sessions where patrol leaders would determine the month’s activities. He would tell our parents, “These boys are totally responsible for the success of each meeting.” Uniforms were required. Uniform inspection was required. A few more boys left almost immediately, while others saw the experience as the opportunity it was. Scouting had returned and young men were gaining self-reliance, learning right from wrong and starting on a path to become leaders.
Parent participation improved. Dick’s leadership guided the quality of the programs. We began participating in Jamborees, Council meetings, and our camping trips became hiking trips. We developed skills and more responsibility was being expected of all the boys.
“The Boy Scout program, through the support of the United Way, offers young boys an opportunity to learn in a fun manner,” Dick would explain in a Ponte Vedra Recorder interview.
Scouting in Ponte Vedra Beach almost disappeared in the 1970s but for a few men, a handful of boys and the dedicated community spirit of their parents and community who banded together to prevent that from happening. The Boy Scouts held on, began to thrive, and Eagles were once again seen in this smartly casual place of all places, Ponte Vedra Beach. Be Prepared.
