Wahunsenakah considers new neckerchief design

The Wahunsenakah Lodge Executive Committee will vote on a design for a new lodge neckerchief at their meeting scheduled for December 4. The first Wahunsenakah neckerchief features a single duck design embroidered directly onto a dark green neckerchief. It was first sold in 2001.

Above is an illustration from the Lodge web site of possible designs the LEC will be considering for the new neckerchief.

Great OA history resource

While researching a new article about an activity patch today I came across a great online resource that may prove helpful to others who are interested in the history of the Order of the Arrow.

The site is the Digital Archive of the Order of the Arrow, located at http://www.oaarchive.org/
It's an official site of the OA, though I was not able to find any reference to it on the official OA BSA site.

Although the site requires a search to bring up any content, the results are treasures for those seeking scanned copies of old National OA Bulletings, pictures of event patches, and much more. You can search by keyword, date range, and much more, or to just get an idea of what's available click the random images button.

Here's a great example of the gems buried within the OA Digital Archives. From the Summer 1955 National OA Bulletin:

333 Fall Fellowship patch issued

Wahunsenakah Lodge held their Fall Fellowship at Bayport Scout Reservation on October 29-31, and issued this beautiful patch to commemorate their weekend of cheerful service. Following in the style of the previously issued activity patches for 2010, the design features ghosted lettering across a multicolor background and recognizes the 100th anniversary of the BSA.

Virginia Section Officers Association site archived online

When I decided to create kecoughtan.com in the late 1990's I was motivated to do so by the dearth of information on the internet about the history of Kecoughtan Lodge and the Order of the Arrow on the Peninsula preceding Wahunsenakah Lodge.

One resource that proved invaluable to me was the Virginia Section Officers Association web site.  Formed in 1998, the purpose of the Association was cited on the home page of their web site:

• To provide the Section with a knowledgeable pool of Arrowmen to use as trainers at Section Conclaves

• To record the history of section SR-7A and to maintain the histories of Virginia's former sections

• To locate past Virginia Section officers and encourage them to become active in Scouting

• To maintain a web site that contains Virginia Section histories and lists past officers

The site was developed by W. Scott Smith (1993, 1994 SR-6B Chief) of Tutelo Lodge 161 and Michael F. White (1995 SR-6B Chief) of Shenandoah Lodge 258. 

A few years ago I noticed that the site was no longer online, and emailed the authors requesting permission to make its content available here. They kindly assented, and today I still consult the valuable reference they created for historical information I've been unable to locate anywhere else.

Take a trip down memory lane and visit the VSOA site, archived at kecoughtan.com with a salute to Scott and Mike for their pioneering efforts to preserve Virginia OA history on the web.

Wicomico Chapter issues two new arrowhead patches

Wicomico Chapter of Wahunsenakah Lodge 333 recently issued two new arrowhead-shaped patches very similar to their prior A1 design. Although the design of the two new patches is virtually identical, the sizes are not.

Both differ from the A1 in that FDL's have been added on either side of the Chapter name and three W's have been added in each corner of the lower section. The face of the Chief is now red rather than brown, probably to reduce costs by lowering the number of colors used in the design.

A2 is 7" wide and 9" tall and designed as a jacket patch. A3 is 2.5" wide and 3.5" tall and classified as a pocket patch. An identical version of this patch is scheduled for release soon with a yellow border. The yellow border version will be sold to members and the red version to non-members of the chapter. You can view all of the Wicomico Chapter patches here.

Thanks to Larry Johnson for the pictures and information.