The Troop 64 Folklore Page
This page contains a collection of Troop 64 stories, legends, tales and mythology. All of the saga of the late great Troop 64 (1929-1986).
One canoe trip, as always there will be one night where you just
don't find a campsite before sunset. That means you will settle
for anything that resembles dry land and is solid. These sites
are nightmares the following morning when the first signal of
daylight shows off your navigational blunder.
An ideal campsite was spotted after sunset on a canoe trip in Quebec. Dry land, flat with not much growth. To say the least: An ideal homestead for the evening. Could not figure out how we lucked out. I cannot take the credit for selecting this site but it was one of the nicest spots ever selected.
Had a pleasant night sleep till morning. Shortly after sunrise, I heard some type of commotion interspersed with yelling. I climbed out of my sleeping bag, opened the tent, stood up to view the surroundings. Whops! We picked the wrong spot to camp. Could not tell at night, but by morning we had our tents pitched in the center of a dirt tote road. It just so happened that at about 5:30 AM a logging truck was attempting to pass. The driver waited patiently as we quickly pulled our tents out of the roadway thus enabling him to drive through.
Source: Personal Recollections (1984).
Scouting gives an individual copious opportunities to earn badges
and awards. Many many moons ago in the pre-ironman era, a great
physical and mental challenge was the "Mile Swim Award - BSA".
The only requirement: swim one mile under safe conditions. Each
summer the option was offered at Camp Pomperaug. One fine summer
day Jim decided to attempt this feat. He needed two people to
follow him in a boat for the one mile course. Craig and I agreed.
Jim proceeded to swim the one mile course while Craig and I followed in the row boat across the Pomperaug Lake. A somewhat uneventful event until suddenly Jim let out a scream! "What's the matter?" we questioned. Jim conveyed to us that he was having severe leg cramps. Suddenly Jim vanished beneath the murky root beer colored abyss. I don't quite know what Craig was thinking, but I had just one depressing thought: "There not going to give me Lifesaving merit badge now". Lifesaving protocols are Reach, Throw, Row, Go! I could not reach for Jim, nothing to throw and I'm already in a rowboat. All I could do is go in after him. From the stern of the boat, I leaped into the root beer colored water. As I dove down, suddenly I hit bottom. Discovering that it was only about three feet deep in the center of the lake. Simultaneously, Jim also discovered that he could just sand up once he reached bottom. The two of us were now standing in water up to our chests. Jim stated that his cramps were gone, continued with the mile swim. We learned the true depth of the Pomperaug Lake, Jim was awarded the "Mile Swim" and I passed my lifesaving course.
Source: Personal Recollections (1973).
Once upon a camping trip, Mark Topham went trout fishing.
A flip of the wrist, the angler would snap the flexible fiberglass rod.
A distant splash!, with a cast across the placid surface of the lake,
eagerly awaiting a prize rainbow trout swimming beneath.
While on the fly, Mark caught a whopping "145 lbs" catch-of-the-day. He ended up hooking Tom Mathews in the ear. Troop history could record this as the largest fishing catch and the 1st "64" member to wear an earring.
Instead of an early fashon trend with a pierced ear hook-look, Bob Guertin performed his first emergency field surgery. No scrup-up or anestesia. Bob found a pair of pliers (or should we say surgical pliers) and removed the impaled object. Maybe a few decades from now earrings on men might someday be in fashion.
Source: Wayne Medoff (Early 1970's).
In the later portion of the 20th Century portagle stereo players became
ubiquitous throughout our culture. These devices were known by the
terms "boom-boxes", "ghetto-blasters" or just "the box".
Unbeknown to the general populous is that the first "boom-box" was
invented by a "64" member.
In 1976, Richard Thompson devised a way of bringing stereo music for people on the go. The base was made with steel sheet metal about two feet by three feet. The center, he strapped a twelve volt car battery. This powered a portable 8-track player. Two large stereo speakers were wired to this device. It took two people to carry it, but it was the first of its kind.
When the community was advancing from AM to FM, we were privileged to have such a creation for our baseball games and camping trips. We could now listen to Frampton Comes Alive! and Beach Boys Endless Summer for any outdoor event. Gone was the red transistor radio of years past.
Source: Personal Recollections (1976).
From 1840 to 1931 the Housatonic Railroad passed through Trumbull
during the early years of Troop 64. As the railroad was fading,
a new railroad mesmerized early troop members. In 1930 a Scout
joined the troop by the name Wadsworth Ives. He was the
grandson of Edward Ives who started the Ives Toy Compnay, Plymonth,
Connecticut in 1866. The company moved to Bridgeport on April 15th, 1902.
Ives was the first company to introduce toy trains that run on tracks. They specialized in the manufacture of 0-gauge trains, tracks, stations, signals and switches. The company was later sold at auction in 1928. By 1932 it closed opperations in Bridgeport.
Often Scouts from Troop 64 would walk to Wadsworth's home to operate and view this train layout. Just as the Housatonic railroad ceased operations in Trumbull, so did the Ives train layout of Trumbull. No one knows what ever happended to it.
Source: James McClinch, (1937).
