Minsi Trails Council is a council of the Boy Scouts of America that serves Scouts of eastern Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley and Pocono regions as well as parts of western New Jersey. The council serves six counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Carbon, Luzerne, and Warren counties.
Minsi Trails Council serves nearly 17,000 youth through the leadership of 5,500 adult volunteers.
The council was formed in 1969, after the merger of the Bethlehem Area Council, Delaware Valley Area Council, and Lehigh Council. The council consists of six districts and maintains two camping properties: Camp Minsi in Pocono Summit, PA and Trexler Scout Reservation in Jonas, PA. Combined, these camps serve more than 4,000 campers annually.
Video Minsi Trails Council
Organization
The Minsi Trails Council maintains a central headquarters and service center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The service center includes offices, conference rooms, and a council Scout shop. A copy of the R. Tait McKenzie sculpture The Ideal Scout stands outside the center.
The council is divided into six districts divided by county and school district boundaries based on geographic location and size. A seventh Urban Scouting District runs the national Scoutreach program.
Maps Minsi Trails Council
Camps
Minsi Trails Council owns and maintains three camps. Camp Minsi, a Boy Scout and Venturing camp, is the largest of the three camps, encompassing over 1,200 acres (5 km2) in Pocono Summit, Pennsylvania. The other two camps--Akelaland (Cub Scout camp) and Settlers Camp (Boy Scout camp)--share a 900-acre (3.6 km2) Scout reservation in Jonas, Pennsylvania.
Camp Minsi
Camp Minsi is a located on the shores of the 314-acre (1 km2) Stillwater Lake in Pocono Summit, Pennsylvania. The camp was donated to the Boy Scouts in 1949 by Samuel Rubel of the Pocono Mountain Ice Company. The camp was formerly owned by Bethlehem Area Council prior to the establishment of Minsi Trails Council in 1969.
Camp Minsi encompasses 1,200 acres (5 km2) of relatively flat Pocono woodlands, and holds over 20 miles (32 km) of hiking trails and varied wildlife.
A central feature of the camp is the 314-acre (1 km2) Stillwater Lake. Stillwater Lake provides opportunities for swimming, small-boat sailing, canoeing, rowing, kayaking, fishing, standup paddleboarding, boardsailing, blobbing and other aquatic activities. Camp Minsi's Trail to Adventure (TTA) program is a special program designed to help newer Scouts advance in the early ranks. The camp's ScoutCraft area teaches outdoor skills - while the unique Minsi Village and Voyageur Outpost areas provide hands-on living history with focuses on primitive outdoor skills, blacksmithing, woodsmithing, lumberjacking, Native American culture, archaeology, pioneering, branding, games, crafts, and cooking. The camp's Handicraft area allows Scouts to experience the crafts of woodcarving, leather work, basketry, pottery, art, textiles and model building. The camp's Ecology-Conservation area offers environmental programs and nature studies. The Shooting Sports area allows Scouts to shoot rifles, shotguns, and bows and arrows. Other program areas include programs focused on citizenship, communications, health, safety, trade skills, sports, athletics and leadership training.
In addition to its traditional Boy Scout program areas, Camp Minsi offers high adventure programs for Venturers and older Scouts. High adventure offerings include whitewater rafting on the Lehigh River, mountain biking the Lehigh Gorge, hiking Mount Minsi in the Delaware Water Gap, exploring the waterfalls and boulder field at Hickory Run State Park, canoeing through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, COPE and ropes courses with climbing and zip-lines, and other activities both on, and off, site.
Camp Minsi has over 20 buildings, 10 established troop sites, 10 primitive outpost sites, four freshwater springs, miles of trails and several historical and natural points of interest.
The camp has been named "Best Campground," "Best Day Camp," and "Best Non-Profit" in the Poconos by the readers of the Pocono Record in the newspaper's 2013, 2014 and 2015 "Reader's Choice" contests.
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Trexler Scout Reservation
Trexler Scout Reservation is located on 900 acres of land. It was donated by Harry C. Trexler in 1927, and in 1928 the camp welcomed its first group of Scouts.
Akelaland
Akelaland is a Cub Scout resident camp located within Trexler Scout Reservation. Akelaland was formally "Pioneer Camp", Minsi Trails Council's rustic Scout camp which encompassed over 200 acres (81 ha) of the reservation. In the mid-1980s, the camp was later converted to a Cub Scout resident camp. The Pioneer building, a small, one-room building with a wood-burning stove, still stands today, as well as other parts of the original camp.
Akelaland has a swimming pool, shooting ranges (for archery and BB guns), an 18-hole miniature golf course, health lodge, trading post, dining hall, parade field, shower houses, and an activities field. The camp also has a waterfront for boating and fishing at Lake Trexler, which they share with Setter's Camp.
Akelaland offers a week-long resident camp program during the summer which includes swimming, boating, nature, archery, BB Gun, handicraft, athletics, outdoor skills, water games, fishing, hiking, astronomy, flag ceremonies, singing, scavenger hunts and special theme related events. "Mini Weeks" are also available for Scouts running from Sunday to Wednesday each week. Akelaland provides distinct programs for each age group so that a Cub Scout can attend Akelaland for four years and have a different experience every time. Webelos II's can participate in a special week long program called Pioneer Camp, which includes a four-mile wilderness hike and outpost.
Settler's Camp
Settler's Camp is the Boy Scout resident camp of the reservation. The camp has three separate ranges (a rifle, a shotgun, and an archery range), a disk golf course, a gaga ball pit, and multiple program areas - including a waterfront, Scoutcraft area, handicraft area, a nature area, a C.O.P.E. area, an adult leader training area (titled "L.O.S.T"), a music and arts area, a STEM area (titled "S.E.N.T.R."), a trade skills merit area (titled "T.O.C."), and a first-year campers area (titled "O.F.C.").
Order of the Arrow
Minsi Trails Council is home to the Witauchsoman Lodge of the Order of the Arrow. Witauchsoman means "to be in fellowship with somebody".
In 1928, thirteen years after the introduction of the Order of the Arrow into Scouting, Minsi Lodge No. 5 emerged. The Minsi Lodge served the Lehigh Council that operated Trexler Scout Reservation at the time. In 1936, the Pohopoco Lodge No. 44 replaced the Minsi Lodge. For thirty-three years the Pohopoco Lodge acted as a pilot lodge, helping to start new lodges in the area. The other lodges were the Tunkhannock Lodge No. 476 of the Bethlehem Area Council operating Camp Minsi, and the Ah'Pace Lodge No. 58 of the Delaware Valley Area Council operating Camp Weygadt. The tri-merger was named the Witauchsoman Lodge #44. The totem of the lodge is three peace pipes (symbolizing the three predecessor lodges) strong on a bow. The lodge has become a strong and vibrant force in the Minsi Trails Council. In 1980, a new chapter that formerly served the Anthracite Scouting Organization joined the brotherhood of the lodge. This was a result of the Organization becoming a new district in the Minsi Trails Council. In 1994, Witauchsoman re-established chapters. Each of the council's six Scouting districts operates a chapter.
Chapters
- Ah'Pace Chapter (Forks of the Delaware District)
- Quekolis Chapter (Anthracite District)
- Pohopoco Chapter (Trexler District)
- Tunkhannock Chapter (South Mountain District)
- Pokawachne Chapter (Pocono District)
- Wapagokhos Chapter (North Valley District)
See also
- Scouting in Pennsylvania
Further reading
- Safford, Sean. Why the Garden Club Couldn't Save Youngstown: The Transformation of the Rust Belt, 2009, Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674031760
References
External links
- Minsi Trails Council - Official Site
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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