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Scouting in Maryland has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving millions of youth with activities that have adapted to the changing cultural environment but have always been rooted in an active outdoor program.

Early history (1910-1950)

The 1923 National Order of the Arrow Lodge Meeting was held at Baltimore, Maryland.

In the early 1920s, there were several camps named Rodney in the Delmarva area. However, the current Rodney Scout Reservation was established in 1921.

Camp Linstead on the Severn River near Annapolis was a Baltimore Area Council camp throughout the 1920s and 1930's until closing in 1941.

Recent history (1950-1990)

Boy Scouts of America

There are six Boy Scouts of America local councils in Maryland, all within the Northeast Region.

Baltimore Area Council

The Baltimore Area Council includes thirteen districts:

• Arrowhead District
• Thurgood Marshall District (formerly Babe Ruth District)
• Carroll District
• Chesapeake District
• Dulaney District
• Four Rivers District
• Harford District
• Hopkins District
• National Pike District
• Reginald F. Lewis District (formerly Scoutreach District)
• The Capitol District
• Pathfinders District
• Learning For Life District

Baltimore Area Council partners with approximately 800 community based organizations providing programs to more than 35,000 youth each year. Baltimore Area Council operates three full service Scout Shops either directly or thru license with the National Council, Boy Scouts of America in Baltimore City, Hanover and Whiteford in Harford County, Maryland. The Harford Scout Shop is located in Camp Saffran at Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation at 1929 Susquehanna Hall Road Whiteford, Maryland. The Dorsey Road Scout Shop is located at 7502 Connelley Dr Ste 117, Hanover, Maryland. The Baltimore Scout Shop is actually located directly across the street from the Council's Shapiro Scout Service Center in the Stieff Silver Building at 800 Wyman Park Drive, Baltimore Maryland. The Council also operates a Help Desk that serves Scout volunteers and Scout parents at the Baltimore Scout Shop.

In 2008, Baltimore Area Council announced ten top initiative programs to highlight the Boy Scouts of America 100th Anniversary in 2010. The Top Ten Initiatives are: Star-Spangled Camporee at Ft. McHenry and surrounding City Parks, Scout Sunday And Sabbath, Anniversary Black Tie Gala, Gathering of Eagles, Flag Ceremonies, the 100 Great Moments in Baltimore Area Scouting History, Birthday Card Contest, Scouting Mural/Mosaic Project and the 100th Anniversary Service Project.

In February 2009, the Star-Spangled Banner Flag or the Great Garrison Flag (also known as the 15 Star Flag) was officially adopted as the Official U.S. Flag of the Baltimore Area Council, Boy Scouts of America by authority of the Council Executive Board. A public ceremony was conducted on February 8, 2009, on the occasion of the 99th Anniversary of the incorporation of the Boy Scouts of America in Washington, D.C., by William D. Boyce, a Chicago publisher. Representatives of Scout Units, Districts, the Council and the public were on hand to commemorate the adoption at the Shapiro Scout Service Center. This was done in anticipation of the bicentennial commemoration at Fort McHenry in 2014 of the battle which inspired Francis Scott Key to write his inspirational poem which later became our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.

Baltimore Area Council operates a Scout camp in Harford County, Maryland known as Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation. Broad Creek land was first acquired in 1946. Over 1,900 acres (7.7 km²) of land are owned and/or operated by BAC. It has operated as a Scout camp since 1948 and is one of the five largest blocks of contiguous forest in the traditional (western shore) Baltimore metropolitan area, and the largest such private forested area. In 2009, a new Rosenberg Welcome Center, formerly the Reservation HQ, and the expansion of the Dining Hall Pavilion at Camp Oest were constructed to accommodate attendance growth and goals in the 2008-2012 Baltimore Area Council Strategic Plan.

Broad Creek has three primary camps, two secondary camps, plus a large natural area including the largest hemlock forest east of the mountains in Maryland. Several pine plantations were planted in 1949-51 and felled in 2006-7 due to beetle infestations.

The primary camps are called Camp Saffran (named after Frederick A. Saffran), Camp Spencer (named after William B. Spencer), and Camp Oest (named after E. Wallace Oest). Camps Saffran and Spencer operate as Boy Scout summer camps and Camp Oest as a Cub Scout resident summer camp. Camp Saffran's Middle Ridge area features a high ropes "COPE" challenge course and zip line.

Of the secondary camps, Camp Cone's remote Houck Lodge is often used by non-scout groups and for training events and, along with Camp Finney, the forests are used for hiking, backpack camping, and orienteering, with paddling access to both the mile-long Lake Straus waters and to the huge Conowingo Reservoir (Susquehanna River). All of the camps in BCMSR are named for a person with an early history of long service to the council.

The hemlocks stand includes the largest Eastern Hemlock in the state of Maryland (officially designated as of July 3, 2007.) A fund-raising campaign allowed for the treatment by volunteers of 1,900 individual hemlock trees from 2005 to 2007 for temporary protection against the invasive woolly adelgid hemlocks infestation.

The OA lodge, Nentico Lodge 12, rents a sizable section of forest from BAC for $1 a year for various uses including ceremonial grounds. A Broad Creek "Camporall" in the fall of 1979, just a few years after national and Maryland scout membership numbers peaked, attracted approximately 4000 participants, mostly to Camp Finney. A September 1998 50th anniversary celebration attracted approximately 2800 participants. Even winter weekends with no special district or council events have attracted up to 1700 campers at this busy year-round facility.

Del-Mar-Va Council

Del-Mar-Va Council serves Scouts in Delaware and the eastern shore portions (east of the Chesapeake Bay) of Maryland and Virginia.

Rodney Scout Reservation, also known as Camp Rodney or simply RSR, is a Boy Scout camp located near North East, Maryland. Along with Henson Scout Reservation, it is one of the two main Scout camps in the Del-Mar-Va Council. Covering 900 acres (3.6 km²) including the Bull Mountain Wilderness Area, it shares a long border with the woodlands of Elk Neck State Park. Along with Broad Creek Reservation, Rodney has placed much of its land into conservation easements for permanent legal protection from residential or commercial development. A number of facilities and campsites directly overlook the Chesapeake Bay which is used for an active aquatics program.

The Del-Mar-Va Council includes eight districts:

• Cecil District
• Choptank District
• Freedom Trail District
• Sussex District
• Three Rivers District
• Tri-County District
• Two Bays District
• Virginia District

National Capital Area Council

The National Capital Area Council (NCAC) serves Scouts in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Frederick, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Charles, Calvert, and St. Marys Counties in Maryland. The Marriott Scout Service Center is located in Bethesda, Maryland.

Chester County Council

The Chester County Council is a Boy Scouts of America council that serves Chester County, Pennsylvania and part of Cecil County, Maryland in that state's northeast corner. It is one of the oldest councils in the nation. Its Horseshore Scout Reservation straddles the Mason-Dixon line between these two counties.

Mason-Dixon Council

The Mason-Dixon Council serves southern Franklin and Fulton Counties in Pennsylvania and neighboring Washington County in Maryland.[1]

Sinoquipe Scout Reservation (Sinoquipe means Builder of Men) is a remote 500-acre (2.0 km²) forested mountain facility with a 10-acre (40,000 m²) lake located in the rural area two miles (3 km) from the village of Fort Littleton, Pennsylvania in Fulton County. It is located 120 miles (190 km) from Baltimore, 115 miles (185 km) from DC, and 65 miles (105 km) from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The Order of the Arrow lodge for the Mason-Dixon Council is Guneukitschik Lodge No. 317.

The Mason Dixon Council is made up of three districts:

• Great Cove District - Fulton County, PA
• Washington County District - Washington County, MD
• Tuscarora District - Franklin County, PA

Potomac Council

Potomac Council serves youth in Allegany and Garrett Counties, Maryland and Mineral, Hampshire, Hardy, and Grant Counties, West Virginia.
It has two districts:

• Nemacolin Trail District
• Tri-Valley District

Potomac Council operates Camp Potomac, which offers Resident Boy Scout and Webelos camps, as well as a Cub Scout day camp program.

Girl Scouts of the USA

Four Girl Scout Councils serve Maryland but only one is headquartered in the state.

Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council

See Scouting in West Virginia for more information. Serves Maryland girls in Garrett county.

Headquarters: Charleston, West Virginia
Website: http://www.bdgsc.org

Girl Scouts of Central Maryland

The only council with headquarters in Maryland, it serves over 30,000 girls in Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard Counties.

It originated the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program that tries to maintain ties between female prisoners and their daughters by having them participate in Girl Scouts.[2] The program has been replicated in some 25 other Girl Scout Councils.

Headquarters: Baltimore, Maryland
Website: http://www.gscm.org

Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay Council

See Scouting in Delaware. Serves Maryland girls on the Delmarva Peninsula.

Headquarters: Newark, Delaware
Website: http://www.cbgsc.org

Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital

See Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital. This council supports girls in several Maryland counties: Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George's, Frederick, St. Mary's, Allegany, and Washington.

Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
Website: http://www.gscnc.org

International Scouting in Maryland

An international Polish Scout Jamboree with several thousand participants took place in Maryland in the summer of 2006, composed primarily of Scouts-in-Exile from Canada and the United States. It was held at Baltimore Area Council's camp at Broad Creek Scout Reservation in an area known as Camp Spencer.

See also