Connecticut Yankee Council

Connecticut Yankee Council
Owner	Boy Scouts of America
Headquarters	Milford, Connecticut
Country	United States
Founded	1998
Website http://www.ctyankee.org
Scouting portal

The Connecticut Yankee Council of the Boy Scouts of America is located in Milford, Connecticut. The present council was formed in 1998 when Quinnipiac Council and Fairfield County Council merged.

Connecticut Yankee Council presently operates four camps: Camp Sequassen in New Hartford, Deer Lake Scout Reservation in Killingworth, Hoyt Scout Reservation in Redding and Wah Wah Taysee in North Haven. Owaneco Lodge is the Order of the Arrow lodge that serves this council.

History

Programs and activities

Organization

Connecticut Yankee Council is divided into the following districts:

• Lighthouse District serves New Haven, East Haven, Branford, North Branford, Guilford and Madison.
• Pomperaug District serves Westport, Weston, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Trumbull, Bridgeport and Stratford.
• Powahay District is led by a core team of volunteers and a professional Scouting executive and served 1,843 young people in 58 Scouting units in 2006. Powahay's current Senior District Executive is David Rennie. The Powahay District serves Stamford, New Canaan, Darien, Wilton and Norwalk.
• Scatacook District serves Sherman, New Fairfield, Brookfield, Danbury, Bethel, Newtown, Ridgefield and Redding.
• Sleeping Giant District serves Southington, Meriden, Wallingford, North Haven and Hamden.
• Wepawaug Valley District serves Bethany, Woodbridge, Orange, Milford and West Haven.

Camps

Camp Sequassen

Camp Sequassen is located at 791 West Hill Road in New Hartford, Connecticut. It is a Boy Scout camp operated by the Connecticut Yankee Council and is mainly used for summer camp. During the summer, it becomes a Boy Scout resident camp for over 1,700 boys from across New England. It is the "sister camp" to Camp Workeoman operated by the Connecticut Rivers Council across the road. Troops from around Connecticut and neighboring states stay at Camp Sequassen for a week. While staying there, Scouts are able to work on rank requirements and take Merit Badge classes while being instructed by well-trained staff members.

All three meals are served at the English Dining Hall near Clark Field. Here, the Scouts are served breakfast at 8:00, lunch at 12:30 and dinner at 6:00. At open program from 3-5 and 7-8 or in between classes, Scouts can stop at various fun and enjoyable places.

One of these places is the Trading Post. This is a small scouting store operated by Sequassen staff. It is well known for the slushies and candy sold there, but also offers other merchandise such as Sequassen frisbees, shirts, hats and patches. At the waterfront, scouts can go swimming or take boats such as canoes, kayaks and row boats out into West Hill Pond. Also, Platt Field, located in North Sequassen, is where Scouts can participate in rifle shooting and archery. Very close to Platt Field, shotgun shooting is available for older Scouts near Scout Craft. There is also a handicrafts center near the waterfront where woodcarving, paintings and metalwork is possible. At the Nature Center called "Eco" (located in Cohen Lodge), Scouts can enjoy creative, fun and educational programs such as catching insects at the "Bug Wall" and learning about glaciation in "Tasty Geology".

While staying at Sequassen, absolutely no one is allowed to cross over West Hill Road to get from one half of the camp to the other. Instead, all Scouts, staff and adult leaders use the Godfrey-Morris tunnel that goes under West Hill Road. None of the staff members tolerate horse play and it is encouraged that everybody takes a shower at one point during the week at the shower house located near Clark Field.

John Sherman Hoyt Scout Reservation and Training Center

John Sherman Hoyt Scout Reservation and Training Center is located in Redding, Connecticut. The reservation was donated to the Alfred W. Dater Council by Alice B. Sanford in 1966. The 174 acres (0.70 km²) of wooded property is located in a rural area of Connecticut on the western end of the Connecticut Yankee Council.

The reservation is named after John Sherman Hoyt of Darien, Connecticut. Hoyt was a wealthy industrialist and dedicated scouter. Hoyt was involved with the scouting movement since 1910 as one of its founders and later served as National Council Vice President for Finance, a member of the National Council Executive Board and Advisory Board. Hoyt donated 18 acres (73,000 m²) of land in 1947 to the Alfred W. Dater Council, which became the Five Mile River Camp. The first building built at the new camp was a training cabin, which was dedicated to General Arthur Carter.

The reservation has been operated by three different councils. Alfred W. Dater Council merged to form Fairfield County Council in 1972 and merged again in 1998 to form the present Connecticut Yankee Council.

Camp Pomperaug

This is a Scout camp located in Union, Connecticut. Currently (2006) it is owned by the Connecticut Yankee Council and leased to the Ct Burn Foundation as a summer camp for children with severe burns.

This camp has had a long history, first, as boy scout camp located on Lake Zoar as part of the Housatonic River system.^[1]

Deer Lake Scout Reservation

Deer Lake Scout Reservation is located around Deer Lake in Killingworth, Connecticut.

Owaneco Lodge

Connecticut Yankee Council
Founded	1998

Owaneco Lodge is the Order of the Arrow (OA) lodge for the Connecticut Yankee Council. The Order of the Arrow is Scouting's National Honor Society. The lodge's name comes from a chief’s name of the Mohegan Tribe and its totem is Owaneco.

When it was announced that Arcoon and Tankiteke would merge to form a new lodge in 1999, a lodge steering committee was set up to discuss the merger between the two lodges. After five meetings between February and September 1998, all details regarding basic structure, committee responsibilities, name of the lodge, bylaws and first lodge event were discussed and finalized.

On October 4, 1998, the first meeting of the memberships of Owaneco Lodge occurred. The lodge membership approved the lodge name, number, bylaws and the first group of lodge officers was elected. During the lodge’s first year, the executive committee worked to mold the new lodge program. Several changes were made to combine the traditions of Tankiteke and Arcoon and adapt a new lodge program. 1998 also saw Ockenuck Chapter re-named itself to the Arcoon Chapter.

During 1999, Owaneco lodge achieved honor lodge status for the first time in its short history. Owaneco repeated this achievement in 2007.

The 2003 Section NE-2C Conclave was held at Camp Sequassen and hosted by Owaneco Lodge.

The Quinnipiac Dancers, which started out as the Wulihan Chapter Dance Team in the Arcoon Lodge, celebrate their 30th anniversary in 2004. Over the 30 years, the dance team has garnered dozens of awards.

Owaneco Lodge actively practices the OA principles of Cheerful Service. The lodge is currently engaged in collecting soda can tabs for donation to the Masonic Tabs for Tots program, which uses the tabs to raise funds for the Shriner Hospitals for Crippled Children and Burn Victims. Since starting this service project, the lodge has collected almost 100 pounds of tabs to be converted into scrap aluminum for the Hospitals.

References

1. ^ Boy Scout Troop 64

See also

• Scouting in Connecticut