Excerpt from Oral History with Walter DeGroot

 

Boy Scouts today are still working on merit badges, and Eagle projects, doing community service such as food drives, and enjoying camping and outdoor adventures.

Walter DeGroot’s Oral History in the Virginia Room describes Scouting in the 1940’s.

For Truman’s 1946 inauguration:

“We marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and whatever that street is in front of the White House and then from there we dispersed. And I was so proud of myself. And it was cold that day. It was cold.”

Camping on the Columbia Pike farm and greenhouse property owned by the father of a fellow scout, Jimmy Goings, from the Arlington Methodist Church Boy Scout troop:

“It was a kind of a neat place to go camping. The boys would get on the AB&W; bus, and get off at Mr. Going’s, and drag our tents and the sort up the hill. We camped up there a lot. Behind that there was a very large stone quarry. It was more like a gravel pit. That’s about where Hechinger’s used to have a big store on Route 7 there. And of course Route 7 was the Bailey’s Crossroads Airport. I think we boys used to hike…just to get the cold water from the [Carlin] spring, and then go back over to the camp.”

What About You?

Do you have photos and recollections of Boy Scouts in Arlington? Please let us know!