| According to the Troop History Records of the Atlanta
Area Council,
BSA, on October 4, 1927, the First Methodist Church of Decatur, Georgia
on Sycamore Street first chartered our Troop as Troop 3 of the
community
of Decatur, Georgia and Troop 134 of the Atlanta
Area Council, BSA. They remained the Troop's Chartering
Organization
until 1932 when the Decatur Presbyterian Church began to sponsor the
Troop.
Finally, on November 26, 1933, the First
Baptist Church of Decatur, Georgia (at the time on Trinity Place)
became
the Troop's Chartering Organization and has remained so since
then.
Troop 134 is the third longest continuously tenured Troop in the Atlanta
Area Council, BSA. In 2002, Troop 134 celebrated its 75th
Anniversary (of continuous tenure).
Note: Recent research performed by a sister troop (who
was Troop 2 of
Decatur at the time) may indicate that a number of their members
transferred
into our Troop in 1918. We are hoping to do further research to
determine
if we may be older than we think. 1927 may just be the date that
Troop 3 became chartered to the Atlanta Area Council, BSA. In the
early years of the Boy Scouts of America, Scoutmasters were awarded a
charter
directly through the national office.
Camping
|
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picture to enlarge;
slow loading at 56k)
Over the years, Troop 134 has gone on many, many camping trips and
other events. Some of these are listed on our Troop
134 Camping Schedules web page. To the best of our knowledge,
Troop 134 has always gone to Summer Camp at an Atlanta Area Council
Summer
Camp, usually being Camp Bert Adams near Vinings, Georgia or the Bert
Adams
Scout Reservation near Covington, Georgia. In 1980 and 1982, the
Troop went to Summer Camp at the Council's mountain camp the Robert W.
Woodruff Scout Reservation near Blairsville, Georgia in Union County. |
| Scout Show
Troop 134 has participated in nearly every Atlanta Area
Council Scout
Show/Exhibition since it began in 1954. This event has been held
at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium, Grant Field, Chastain Park, The
Atlanta
Stadium, The Lakewood Fairgrounds, The Omni, The Atlanta Civic Center,
and the Georgia World
Congress
Center (the last home). Highlights of our participation in
the
last few decades have included a number of years building and giving
rides
on a ferris wheel, monkey bridge, and slide for life cable ride.
We have also demonstrated semaphore, fire building without matches,
edible
plants, computers, bicycling, proper US Flag etiquette, and dutch oven
cooking. Unfortunately, at present the Atlanta Area Council has
discontinued
holding a council-wide scout show/exhibition, but some districts are
making
plans to hold district wide scout shows.
Scout Hut
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on picture
to enlarge; slow loading at 56k)
For a period of time prior to 1955, the Troop met in a wooden scout
hut,
but it burnt down along with many of the Troop's records, equipment and
awards. By 1955, the Troop was meeting in a metal scout hut
behind
the church next to the wall at the Keystone Pavilion, but the concrete
base of this scout hut was about four feet below the current ground
level
such that it was possible to step off the top of the wall onto the roof
of the scout hut. In the late 1950's, the scout hut was
disassembled,
dirt was filled in covering the scout hut's original concrete pad
raising
the ground level to about it's current level, a new concrete pad was
poured
about 20 feet closer to the driveway (and away from the wall), and the
scout hut was reassembled on the new pad. This scout hut was used
as the meeting place and storage building for the Troop until about
1982.
This scout hut never had air conditioning or a bathroom and it was, at
first, heated by a pot belly stove, but when the back of the stove
rusted
out, the stove was replaced with a gas furnace. In about 1982,
the
Troop began meeting in the Activities Building of the church, as we
currently
do, and the scout hut primarily became the storage building for Troop
equipment.
In about 1997, the Troop equipment was stored elsewhere and the Scout
hut
was torn down and the concrete pad removed to give the softball field
more
outfield space. |
|
Troop
History
