Chattanooga BSA History

12/12/2023

From the 1920s through the 1950s, Chattanooga had several Sea Scout ships. These Boy Scouts focused on boating and other water-based activities. Sea Scouting still exists, though it is not nearly as popular today as it once was.

Shown here is a 1941 picture of Chattanooga Sea Scouts collecting aluminum for the war effort.

Who still has a Chattanooga Sea Scout uniform? Post a photo in the comments!

12/09/2023

This is the "punch pattern" for the Talidandaganu' S1 "Brown Goose" from 1967. The two mountains in the distance are emblematic of Chattanooga's skyline.

An artist at the patch manufacturer made this pattern. Each drawn line indicates every other stitch. The manufacturer mounted this at one end of a Swiss embroidery machine. Up to 220 needles were threaded with the same color thread. A technician moved a large metal stylus over the pattern for that color thread. Each movement was mechanically repeated by all the needles. When that color was completed, the needles were threaded with the next color. The result was a long piece of cloth with all these patches stitched in it. It was starched to make it stiff, and then the patches were cut out by hand with electric scissors. The merrowed edge was then added one patch at a time on a special machine that pulled thread off of four spools.

08/08/2023

Do you ever see an old Boy Scout patch and wonder what it was like to attend the event? What activities were held? Where was it? What were the rules? Check out the information packet for the 1964 North Hamilton Spring Camporee at Camp Johnston in McDonald, TN.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U1D54CwE44EDZA8hboRnblG_FvCsMHQ7/view?usp=drive_link

08/08/2023

After the Boy Scouts purchased Skymont in 1968, the Council continued operating Skymont Hunting Preserve before it opened as a summer camp in 1973. Check out this newly-found list of instructions and prices for those hunting at Skymont in those days.

07/29/2023

As Scouts from across the country head home from the 2023 National Scout Jamboree, take a look back at the experience Chattanooga scouts had at the very first National Scout Jamboree in 1937 on the national mall in Washington D.C.

Explore this photo album by Ramsey Norris on Flickr!

07/29/2023

The first two Chattanooga Eagle Scouts.

In approximately June 1920, Richard "Dick" Savery and Paul Bush earned the Eagle Scout award, the first ones awarded in Chattanooga. Many more earned the award later that year.

Photographed: Seated left: Richard "Dick" Price
Standing: Richard "Dick" Savery
Seated right: Paul Bush

Photo courtesy of Bill Nardini, Woodbridge, CT (grandson-in-law of Dick Price) and his mother-in-law Gail Price Grossetta.

07/29/2023

William Beatty Greever, aged 10, was the first Chattanoogan to wear a Boy Scout uniform in 1910. He lived at 503 Douglas Street in 1910. He grew up to be a stock broker in Chattanooga and passed away in 1947.

07/29/2023

In search of any Boy Scout memorabilia from the Chattanooga area. Uniforms, photographs, patches, paperwork, etc.

Check out the website detailing the history of Boy Scouting in Chattanooga. chattanoogabsahistory.com

Chattanooga has History Chattanooga History Chattanooga History Hunters Everything Chattanooga History Chattanooga of Yesterday.

08/28/2022

Many know that Skymont Scout Reservation was a private hunting preserve before the Scouts purchased the land in 1968. However, did you know that between 1968 and the first summer camp of 1973, Skymont remained an operational hunting preserve? Check out this flyer from March 1972.

08/21/2022

In 1928, the Boy Scouts held a pageant welcoming National Commissioner Daniel Carter Beard to Chattanooga. This recently acquired program details the pageant and features what appears to be Dan Beard's autograph on the back. A very neat piece of Chattanooga Scouting history!

07/25/2022

The newest addition to the ChattanoogaBSAHistory.com website is a crowdsourced collection of troop histories. Do you have (or want to write) a history of a Chattanooga scouting unit? Send it over and we'll include it! https://www.chattanoogabsahistory.com/units

The Scouting adventure primary takes place at the unit level.  These units include Boy Scout troops, Cub Scout packs, Air Scout Squadrons, Sea Scout Ships, Varsity Teams, Venturing Crews, and Explorer Posts.