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For Florida Order of the Arrow, see FLORIDA-OA.com
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Florida community strips, see Floridacommunitystrips.com
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The latest...4/6/26 New scans for Flaming Arrow Scout Reservation (GTBAC) and Camp Soule (GTBAC) (thanks again, Tim Faughnan!), and Camp Robbins (thanks, Mike Baker!)
4/3/26 New scans have been added, a SSC patch from Camp Sinton (thanks, Gary Towles!), and a few patches from Sand Hill Scout Reservation (thanks, Tim Faughnan!) And, a new council has been added, Gulf Coast Council. With that comes the histories of two former councils with Florida Camps, Satsumaland Council, and Choctawhatchee Council of Dothan, Alabama. 3/18/26 A newly-discovered addition to the "known unknowns", a "leatheroid" patch from Camp Lake Osborne (Gulf Stream Council), that was given to Order of the Arrow members. But, these were given in 1939, three years before the first charter of Aal-Pa-Tah Lodge. 3/16/26 New scans for South Florida Council camps (two for McGregor-Smith, one for Camp Seminole) (thanks; Mike Baker!) 3/15/26 Catch-up time... new scans of old buckles for Flaming Arrow Scout Reservation (thanks, Mike Baker!). Even more scans for Tanah Keeta Scout Reservation (big thanks, David Weda!) And additional scans for Camp Franklin Miles (thanks again, Gary Johnson!) 1/28/26 New images of belt buckles from Camp La-N-Che (thanks, David Mott!) 1/18/26 from North Florida Council: Camp Echockotee 1940 (big thanks, Tim Banach!) and the Shands 2025 Winter Wonderland; from Camp Chagres, two more neckerchiefs (thanks, David Weda!); two neckerchiefs from South Florida Council's Camp Sebring (thanks, Mike Baker!); from Central Florida's Camp La-No-Che, a 1968 Staff belt buckle; and from Suwannee River Area's Camp Wallwood, more new scans (thanks again, Steve Yon and David Pate!) 1/6/26 More new scans for Camps Wallwood (thanks, Steve Yon!), Flaming Arrow SR, La-No-Che (thanks, Mike Baker!), and Camp Soule. 1/2/26 Almost 200 new images posted in the last three days, filling in gaps for La-No-Che, Camp Miles, Orchard Pond, Clear Lake (SSC), J.R.E. Lee (SSC), Semialachee, Tanah Keeta, Wallwood, Flying Eagle, Soule, McGregor Smith, and Sebring. HUGE THANKS to all that have contributed: Steve Yon, Mike Baker, David Mott, and David Weda. 12/26/25 Well, this is where it begins..... |
WELCOME The original purpose of the FloridaBSAcamps website was to display a digital collection of the known emblems and other memorabilia of the council camps of Florida. The patches and other items are a reflection of the history of the programs created by the Boy Scouts (now Scouting America), for the camping and other outdoor experiences, at council-owned or operated properties, throughout the first century of Scouting in Florida. As this project grew, more was discovered about long-forgotten councils and camps, that are also part of this history.
It can be easy to forget what has changed in Florida in the last 100-plus years. In 1910, in the year of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America, the State of Florida was a sleepy backwater. Population-wise, Florida was 33rd out of 46 states in population, with 47 counties, even after nearly doubling its population in the previous ten years. By 1920, the population of Florida was still below a million people, across 54 counties, and mostly in the northern part of the state. Paved roads across the peninsula were a rarity. But it was in the time after 1920 that councils in the BSA began to organize, upgrading from Second Class councils that operated with volunteers and no professional employees, that worked with local units and oversaw Lone Scout programs, to First Class Councils with a paid executive. While councils in the major cities at that time have continued for many decades (Pensacola, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, St. Petersburg, West Palm Beach, Miami, Bradenton – Sarasota), many others at the First Class level were chartered in the smaller towns, that lasted only a few years. Newspaper articles from those small towns recount the pride taken in the communities to raise funds for a Scouting professional, from businesses, civic groups, and local governments. Camps for these Scouts opened with the help of other youth and civic organizations like the YMCA, Rotary or Kiwanis, or on properties lent by private citizens. The model of councils owning their own camp properties under their own name was a much rarer occurrence. Many of these new councils began with great fanfare, but faded away when continuing funds ran out. Councils in 1927 located in Daytona, Dade City, Gainesville, Saint Augustine, Lake Wales, Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Fort Lauderdale, and Sarasota were out of business by 1935, and by 1938, Lakeland was merged with Tampa. The histories, however brief, include the same camp experiences that Scouts have today. |
This website began with in July 2022, with lamentations, inspiration, and an idea, pretty much in that order. Tico Perez and I spoke of the lack of collectors of Florida camp patches, and the lack of information about camp-created memorabilia. Many hobbyists will collect what has been created by their own councils, or perhaps camps that they have attended, but almost no one collected all camps in the state. Besides Tico, there was one person that sought out all camps, our mutual friend and mentor, Rick Obermeyer. Rick was the driving force behind the creation of the Tipisa Museum at Camp La-No-Che, that included the complete Central Florida Camps collection, as well as the Tipisa Lodge 326 and Florida OA Area/ Section collections. Rick’s was the most complete accumulation of all Florida camps, including the earliest known camp patch at the time, the Camp Ropaco 1927, complete with a 1927 camp songbook. Rick’s knowledge of this genre was encyclopedic, and he set an example for fair trading in the spirit of Scouting principles for hundreds of collectors to follow, as well as an appreciation of the history of the program. In June 2024, Rick passed away. But his camp collection and his legacy is here, to share with the rest of the trading community.
A digital display like this could never be created without assistance from local experts. Tico Perez shares the interest of acquiring patches from across the state, and he hosted me for several weekends to scan the images, and to discuss the history of council camps and their programs. Without his assistance and support, this site could not have been completed. David Weda is a subject expert in Gulf Stream Council, and has provided much of what is here from that council’s camps, as well as providing useful suggestions and editing. Mike Daley has shared his substantial knowledge and collection for Camp La-No-Che. David Mott provided many of the images for the camps from Southwest Florida Council, where he had been a Scout from the 1970s through the 1990s. Gary Johnson has been most helpful in filling in the blanks for Southwest Florida. Assistance from Randy Yates and George Romagnoli for their knowledge of the camps of Pinellas County and West Central Florida Councils is greatly appreciated. Michael Baker shared many of the images he had from Central Florida. As you can see, there are several known items for which there is no scan. If there is no placeholder for an unlisted item, it means that the information about that item is unknown. Please feel free to send me your scans, at [email protected]. |
