Kryer archive reaches 101 editions

Former Kecoughtan Chief Morris Friedman kindly loaned me his collection of Kecoughtan Kryer newsletters to scan and post to the online archive of the newsletter of Lodge 463. With the addition of these editions the number of Kryers now available has reached 101.

There are still many years the Lodge was in existence for which I have no editions of the Kryer, or just one or two. Some of these are during the Lodge's final years of service before the merger with Chanco 483 in January of 1996. Please take a moment to dig through your Scout memorabilia and see if you might have an edition that's not in the archive to help complete this unique collection.

New 2007 Wahunsenakah Activity Patches

Wahunsenakah Lodge brothers have been hard at work preparing their new Camp Bayport for its very first season of summer campers. Arrowman Tim Ewing of Lodge 333 sent pictures of the Lodge's first activity patches for 2007. Very similar in appearance, both are three inch rounds featuring a flying duck and a tree in the background.

The Winter Ordeal issue features a solid embroidered royal blue background with a darker blue border. Notice the tree is bare of leaves. The fleur d'lis (FDL) is a cool blue with white shading, reminiscent of snow. The Winter Ordeal was held Feb. 23-25.


The Spring Ordeal issue has a solid embroidered light green background with darker green border, The tree in the background has begun to leaf out. The FDL is green with lighter green shading. The Spring Ordeal was held April 13-15.


It will be interesting to see if the summer and fall activity patches follow this design theme!

The Kecoughtan 463 YC1 Chenille Prototype

One of the rarest Kecoughtan 463 collectibles is the 463 YC-1, the prototype of the Lodge's first chenille emblem. Four of the prototypes were made by the Standard Pennant Company of Big Run, Pennsylvania to be examined by the Lodge before the final order was placed. They are distinguishable from the final released issue by the lettering "A63" instead of "463."
The patch was designed and ordered by Sam Fairchild, with the order placed in the Fall of 1974 (the Blue Book erroneously lists the date of issue as 1976). Sam, who at that time was serving as Newsletter Advisor and 25th Anniversary Committee Advisor, recalls:

"I remember vividly that we ordered the chenille before the planning began on the Lodge's 25th Anniversary. That planning began in early 1975 as I recall. I ordered the prototype chenille from Standard Pennant in the fall of 1974 and it arrived before Christmas. The Executive Committee of the Lodge approved the design, with the requisite substitution of the number "4" for the holding place letter "A". The Kryer editors, Tommy and Dicky Wiggs, published a notice in the newsletter that invited Lodge members to preorder one chenille per person for $5.00. We took the total number of pre-orders and ordered exactly that number of chenilles. There were 74 in total, and they arrived four weeks later."

Sam confirmed that Kecoughtan was the first Virginia Lodge to issue a chenille emblem, saying:

"We were the first, without question. The guys at Powhatan wanted to do one, but they had to wait until the merger with Koo-Koo-Ku-Hoo before they could issue one. Shenshawpotoo issued their first chenille at the SE-1 conclave in 1975."

Virginia Lodges and their chenille emblem issue dates

3 Nawakwa - C1 - 1981
161 Koo Koo Ku Hoo - none
161 Tutelo - C1 - 1979
258 Shenandoah - C1 -1990
276 Shenshawpotoo - C1 - 1975
349 Blue Heron - C1 - 86-88
456 Powhatan - none
463 Kecoughtan - C1 - 1974
483 Chanco - YC1 prototype (only one made) 1993 (see related story)

Where multiple years are indicated I was not able to find a specific date for the issue, and had to rely on dates supplied for patches issued before and afterwards


A fake version of the first Kecoughtan chenille exists, cataloged in the Blue Book as 463ZC-1. It can be identified by the grayish color of the acorn, the alignment of the numeral "6" on the arrow, and the canvas backing versus the cloth backing of the authentic version.


Three additional chenille emblems were issued by Kecoughtan Lodge before its merger with Chanco Lodge in 1996. No prototypes of these issues are reported to exist. Of the four prototypes of the first chenille, three have been located as of April, 2007. The whereabouts of the fourth is currently unknown.

My sincere thanks to the following Arrowmen who provided invaluable information for this article: Sam Fairchild, Joe Maloy, Jeff Godby

If you have additional information about any of the Kecoughtan Lodge chenille patches, please feel free to share it in the comments.