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A Brief History
of Boy Scout Troop 159
Through the efforts and commitment of several Simpsonville businessmen,
the charter application for a new troop was submitted to the Blue
Ridge Council, BSA on June 13th, 1950. The original sponsoring
organization was the Simpsonville Chamber of Commerce, jointly,
with the Simpsonville First Baptist Church and the Simpsonville
United Methodist Church. The new Troop of 15 youth and 5 adult volunteer
leaders was led by Mr. Jeff Richardson, Jr., the first Scoutmaster.
Some of the new Troop members had previously been a part of a disbanded
Troop #112 which had been active in the Simpsonville area during
the mid-1940's.
The original meeting place for the troop was a small frame building
"Scout Hut" located behind the lower end of the Simpsonville
City Cemetery, the area that is now part of the Simpsonville City
Park. One of the features remembered by several of the original
members, was an arrow burned into the floor of the hut. Other members
remembered the building being decorated with animal skins, bird
feathers, arrowheads, and other "collectibles" from the
surrounding area.
The first youth member of Troop 159 to earn his Eagle Award was
Jo Harold Johnson. Jo received his Eagle in May 1952. After earning
his Eagle Award, Jo continued to work with the troop as an assistant
scoutmaster until he left town to go off to college.
During the early years, the troop camped and hiked mostly around
the Simpsonville area, but did have some memorable trips to the
Smoky Mountains. According to the members that made those trips
-- the bears were quite plentiful back then!
The troop's original three sponsoring organizations continued
providing support through the 1950's. Since 1962, the Simpsonville
United Methodist Church has been the exclusive charter organization
for the troop!
Over the 50 year span of time, Troop 159 has been led by 17
different Scoutmasters. Our current Scoutmaster, Charlie Warlick
has served since 1975. That's more than 27 years! During the half
century of scouting for Troop 159, forty young men have earned their
Eagle Award, with 39 of them coming during Mr. Warlick's tenure!
Collectively, during the 50 years, Troop 159 has had over 600
youth members. During the same time, over 130 adult leaders have
volunteered their time and talents to help these young men progress!
The troop continues to provide a very quality scouting program
to Simpsonville's youth. A major emphasis of the troop is service
to the community. The most visible project is probably the Troop's
Adopt-a-Highway project on Maple Street, which was begun as an Eagle
project over 10 years ago. The troop prides itself in camping 12
months out of the year, with special summer trips to BSA Camp Old
Indian and other destinations throughout the Southeastern United
States. Highlight trips have been to the Suwannee River in Florida,
Burrell's Ford area of the Chattooga River, and the Cades Cove area
of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The troop has also attended
every BSA National Jamboree in Virginia since 1985.
Camping trips are never cancelled because of weather, since "it
never rains on a campout", according to Scoutmaster
Warlick!
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