So what did the Boy Scouts of Allegheny now Laurel Highlands Council do with the Log Cabin Forsythe Home from East Liberty they where Gifted?

 Well the more I dig into the history of Boy Scouts of America activities in Pittsburgh regarding camps and properties they once owned in area the worse it gets with Hum Buggery .

Originally known as Allegheny Council then Allegheny Trails Council and now Laurel Highlands Council 

Back during the Allegheny Council days of 1950s. There was the Hubbard Boy Scout Reservation in Allison Park which was donated to the council and was a former country club  which they sold to university of Pittsburgh in 1955  and is now known once again as Wildwood Country club.

Council claimed they where running out of room and civilization was getting too close  and they would buy property in Butler county to replace it . But I am sure The Original Clubs owners  wanted the Club back after the new homes started sprouting out there and a few dollars changed hands  .

Yes that property they bought in Butler County  would be the now closed and sold Camp Semiconon  which they lied about  Just like Tionesta .Which they never built the promised lake  for Semiconon in the article.

That's where the name Hubbard comes from for the fancy place they built out in Farmington.

So now we have another mystery which no one wants to talk about. The Missing Forsythe Log cabin which once sat in East Liberty and was donated to the Council

The cabin itself has a long and interesting history itself.

https://archive.theincline.com/2019/01/29/what-happened-to-the-long-lost-forsythe-log-house-an-east-liberty-landmark/

 Starting out in Wilkinsburg and changing many hands and being moved to East Liberty.

Where finally it was sold to a developer who could not get anyone to take it so he donated it to the scouts .

Who moved it out to the Hubbard Reservation and apparently rebuilt it and according to an old caretaker of property  burned to the ground  because of termites which is unverified could have just been spirited off to some  Corporate Pukes Executives private camp property ,and any trace if it was there along with the memorial marker plaque The DAR Daughters of the American Revolution  put on the cabin have disappeared into history. 

Now if it did burn there is a small chance local fire company may have been called to camp to help put it out and there would be a record which is one area to investigate .

Of course this is one of several Log cabins to conveniently disappear around City of  Pittsburgh including the one that was in Phillips Park in Carrick and River-view Park in North Side 

Pittsburgh is real good at destroying and making disappear historic structures and Objects .

Its a dam shame how much of our history has been lost forever.

 

 

 

Its time for the Order of the Arrow to Disapear and be Eliminated and if your Roman catholic why you should not join.

 Although it started out with the best of intentions The Order of The Arrow or OA as its known needs to go.

What I once thought was suppose to be an Honor Organization with in BSA founded by 2 members  who had Deep Masonic Roots

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Arrow

https://oa-bsa.org/

 

 That incorporated elements of masonic Tradition  and  reverence to Native Americans was no such thing and in fact Native Americans objected to many of the supposed Native American Traditions  and see it as Mocking of them .

Terms like Lodge , Secret Brotherhood Handshake  the 3 levels of being an arrow man , Ordeal ,Brotherhood and vigil  which signify the 3 degrees of masonry. 

Being Roman Catholic at the time of induction I would have refused to join now knowing all the similarity's of Masonic Tradition But i am no Longer roman catholic. 

 . But back then I did not even know who masons where. Because it was a sin to be a mason and you where excommunicated .

Today I would not join it not because of the Masonic Traditions now that I understand who masons are  and I had several masons who I was friend  with and  who worked for me over the years. 

 But the fact so called native traditions we where following and taught about where made up and total fraud and greatly upset Native Americans.

Plus in many cases mocked Native Americans.

We had this family put on Indian Dance Rituals they claimed where based on authenticate research well try again they where not once I started doing some research thru a local council of Indians who where upset with them and their little show . No wonder they always rebuffed me and did not want me in OA when they found out I had an ancestor  Rev John Heckewelder who actually interacted with Native Americans and wrote a book on their languages and customs still used to this day. 

Yes its time to close down the OA and replace it with a modern Honor Organization which respects all .

 

How my Uncle and his Uncle helped to save thier Scout Troop during the horrific Snow Storm of 1950 at Camp Guyasuta in Sharpsburg Pa

 As Told by my  Grandmother  and Mother  It was Weekend of November 24 1950. 

My uncle The late  John Hackwelder  Jr.  an Eagle Scout

Was getting ready to go camping with his Boy Scout Troop at BSA Camp Guyasuta they would meet In  Lincoln Larimer Neighborhood and hike the approx 2-3 miles to the camp down to Washington Blvd to Highland Park Bridge  

He got out his leather hiking boots  to put on and was ready to leave when my Grandmother insisted he take his 

pull over Rubber Buckle Boots with him.

Of course he protested no one else would be bringing theirs and besides it was only small amount of snow expected.

But she insisted and was worried his feet would get wet and he would get sick.  Because he and his uncle had both brought rubber boost with them  they ended up saving their troops lives that weekend .

Friday night was uneventful when the snow started falling but little did they know 27 inches of snow was coming to box and trap them in the camp that weekend

It was the biggest snowfall on record at the time to hit that weekend. it was so bad the national guard was activated and people where found frozen in homes and the street.

 Saturday morning The scout leaders where beside themselves seeing how much snow had already fallen and was still coming ,worried  on how they where going to get out of the camp with the troop. Hopefully some one would come rescue them but when ? They decided to take a chance and break out while they still could .

 Luckily because my Uncle and his Uncle brought their rubber boots they where able to borrow some brooms and shovels and started beating a pathway out of the camp to the main street  thru the deep snow as scouts behind with out  rubber boots helped keep path open they did this as they needed the whole 3 miles back to Larimer ave.  had they not been able to clear the path with the brooms they would of all had frozen feet walking in all that deep snow.

Everyone made it home safe before the streets where totally impassable with a story to tell.

Unfortunately My uncle and his Uncle never got the recognition they deserved saving those scouts because there was a group of  Jewish Scouts from Squirrel Hill got all the News's attention that weekend  because they decided to stay behind become trapped and had to  burn cabin furniture to keep warm and had to be rescued. 

I have been looking for and trying to verify this story because it did make the newspapers that weekend but I have not been able to find the article and of course . scout council has no records as usual. 

 

 

13 years old and your an Eagle Scout I don't think so . How the Eagle Scout Award and or Earning all the merit badges has become another Useless Paper Mill Degree

When I got my Eagle Scout in 1976 I had just turned 17 and had held all the positions you should hold  to work your way up to Eagle Scout such as   patrol leader ,senior patrol leader etc.

The whole purpose of getting your eagle is toward becoming a leader in future life. Its to show you and train you to be gentleman and a leader even if like me you go into the trades.as a self employed businessman . which is another story because if you went into blue collar field you where looked down on as an eagle .

But the  BSA program has become a joke.

Use to be you might see an ambitious  scout make it at 13 and usually they where gone by 15 from program  they had a useless award they did it all and nothing left to do it was nothing more than a resume enhancer .

It was even rare-er to see a scout earn all 145? merit badges back then only a couple did it. Now you see a scout every 2-4 weeks get them  now you can earn badges 24/7 online thru the scout university if you have the drive and money needed for projects see back in my day it took real money to get thing's done and time some badges like signaling where brutal. But most of them are gone or no longer required to get Eagle replaced with easier badges  and if you where working class forget it you could never get  all the badges back then you had to buy the book do the project and find a merit badge counselor to sign off and some badges could only be earned at 1 week summer camp for every one who could attend yearly.

So now you see young woman who have entered the program good for them as many other countrys are coed since 90s  and in less than 3 years have their Eagle Scout Award  just to say they have it. What did they learn ? Nothing

Like I saying all along the whole program has become nothing more than a politically correct joke.

I never mention I am an Eagle Scout unless I am asked .

Its not a thing to shout from the tops of the mountain it is an achievement that is all it is a life style you choose to live and its been totally forgotten what it means to be an Eagle Scout. Thats why I dont mention it. 

One of my customers a former school teacher back in 90s told me you could always tell who those going for eagle where . Not anymore .

The last 3 encounters I had with scout  troops and cub packs coming into tour places I take care of I want nothing more to do with the scouting program.

I am not the only one I run into the occasional older eagle like myself and we all agree 

scouting is not scouting anymore. 

Thank God for the Royal Rangers and Trail Life USA because if I had children that's where they would be not Scouts USA which it now calls itself.

  

What was the extremely Loud Noise we heard while camping with Boyscouts as a teenager in early 1970's in Very Rural Butler County

 An old memory of mine was recently brought back when listening to Stan Gorden  a famous Pa. Ufologist when he gave  a speech at Hill View manor Hill Con as he described a noise residents who witnessed a UFO landing described

When I belonged to Troop 224 In Carrick we where very fortunate Harry Bishop a Business Executive for a paper manufacturer  and Scout Commissioner  who owned some acreage in very rural Butler County in Boyer Pa.  allowed us to camp on his property some where off a side road  of grub road .

We had  permanent camp sites where  we spent the weekend at several times a year .
One fall weekend in 72-73 was like no other it was mid Saturday afternoon when all of a sudden an extremely loud noise was heard thru out the valley the camp was situated in. It sounded  like some one taking a piece of sheet metal and bending it back and forth very fast but so loud we had to cover our ears. It lasted for almost 3 solid minutes and was intense. Some one suggested it sounded like one of those UFO  in a sci-fi movie . We looked all around even hiked up to top of valley where a previous strip mine operated  and was reclaimed but found nothing , however there was a discolored circle of rock and dirt in the strip mine but it did not appear to be burned. Plus the circle could have been site of an old water tank.

With the area being so large and so remote what was going on could have been anywhere in the valley which was several miles long and 2-3 miles across and thick with Forrest  and swamp areas

Our leaders kind of fluffed it off  maybe military was flying around caused the sound or coal mining equipment  . Maybe some exotic bird ?  but at this same time unknown to us at the time there where several sightings of UFO's in that area of Butler County.

But back then you did not have cell phones ,internet and social media  so people would call and report it to  the state police who would take a report and that was about it., Some times if it was really interesting they would notify Stan who would send a team to investigate, and the area even to this day is still very rural definite not a place to break down or wander if you do not know it.

Was it a UFO? who knows but I will never forget the sound thats for sure and never heard such a sound again . When I run across old scout friends they to wonder to this day just what was that noise.
some talk about it most do not want to admit they heard it all these years later. 

Butler County has always been a hot bed for Big Foot ,unknown Cryptids and UFO sightings  or was it something natural happening from all the strip  coal mining and reclamation going on ? I guess we will never know .

Its been almost 40 years since I was last at the camp some day I want to relocate it and check it out if it even still exists  as Mr Bishop has passed a while back and troop 224 is no longer as well ,  .

Update:Mr. Bishops cabin and the camp no longer exists was clear cut and bulldozed and now private property :picture below shows where hunting cabin stood and where we parked to go back to camp  bottom picture is country store we use to stop at in W. Sunbury which once had gas pumps and was also a coin laundromat which was few miles from camp.

There was a cabin and lake further down road  on Mr. Bishops side and cabin  was supposedly burned down deliberately after a black family moved in across from Mr Bishop.
Supposedly the family said property would never be used again as long as blacks where allowed to live there . I noticed the property is occupied and structures built so either the black family has either all passed or moved on or same for family who burned down the cabin. I meet the son of the black family that moved into that farm had a son Mike who would come over and visit while we where camping and they where nice people the little we saw of them.

The Strip Mined areas all around the camp area have now completely grown in since being reclaimed and one of them has been turned into a Waste management land fill.

where Mr Bishops cabin stood.

country market in W. Sunbury

Another camping spot is now just a memory . Harry Bishops Hunting camp BSA Troop 224 used is no more and neither is Troop 224

I spent several  weekends in early 70's  as a young boy scout  at a Friend of Troop 224  Hunting Camp owned by Mr.  Harry Bishop along Grub Road in Boyer Twp Pa. Near W. Sunbury.

Mr Bishop a Paper Company Executive and Scout Commissioner allowed the troop to build a permanent camp site on his hunting camp about  100 yards from his Cabin down in a valley  where there was a bunk house, several campsites a small pond which had become orange from coal  mine waste and a camp Fire Circle. an

 It allowed us to do all kind of camping skills but unfortunately most of the scouts in the troop where hooligans and some of the adult leaders where just as bad as their kids in their behavior. Many kids left 224 over the years  and it was not long before I left 224 for good and joined troop 383 which is also no longer in business.

I recently went looking for Mr. Bishops Camp as I have not been back there since 1980 when I stopped and looked around  and wondered what had happened to it since Mr. Bishop and his wife Have both passed and had no children I wondered if it even still  existed.

Sadly the camp is no more all structures are removed and property appears to have been clear cut at some point mostly new growth trees

The old country market in W. Sunbury  is still there but the gas pumps are gone they once sold Quaker State products and the laundromat has been removed in back and store expanded 

Sadly many of the places I once Camped are gone .

Including Camp Alliquipa now a private RV Resort , Tionesta turned back into Forrest land  ,Semiconon  now a private hunting camp .The Scout Cabin in North Park still there but used for other purpose  and homes now occupy where we had a camporee 

in White Hall behind where commissioner Roy Boyce lived

Yes they say time moves on and in 45 years it surely has and unfortunately very few pictures and documentation of these places even exists and Laurel Highlands council is useless when it comes to trying to do any research on any of these places .

All I have now are memory's thats it to share.

Was a Boyscout Camp Closed due to Big Foot Activity?

In early 80s Camp Semiconon in Connequenessing Twp Pa in Butler County was shut down.
Supposedly not needed since Heritage was Opened in Farmington Pa.
But all the other camps used as summer camps where converted to weekend camps so why wasn't Semiconon deep in the Forrest and a great camp to due scouting skills and lake Arthur only 7 miles away?

Well since writing my article about a suspected Big Foot Attack in July of 1977 I wrote about I have had several individuals come forward who have told me their encounters.

If it happened to staff it means it happened to the adult staff as well. so they knew we where not making up story's and now knowing around Lake Arthur Moraine State Park in the 70s was a Hot Spot and still is for Big Foot and Dogman activity Maybe this is why camp was closed and sold off to a private family they claimed it was a sportsman club buying it.

The State Police would not go into woods that night so even they knew something was up but back then no one knew what a Big Foot was .

First Time I heard it was on the TV Show" In Search Of " Hosted by Leonard Nemoy

It was not until I did further research and talking to local Cryptologists in the area Did I even suspect it was a possible Big Foot that happened to me,.

Now things are starting to make sense and thats why they got rid of it not cost of keeping it up which is minimal the fact strange things where going on and No One knew what to do.

Note: I  recently mentioned this incident to the famous UFO Researcher  Stan Gordon who tells me at one time he was in fact called to Camp Semiconon area because of what was going on by state police due to number of incidents going on back then in 70s.