This camporee had around 1000 scouts and was very well organized with many volunteers. The scouts were divided into three groups for doing three activity periods: service project, merit badges and Presidents Trail. We arrived at Pageant Field in Quincy around 10:30 Saturday and setup our camp and made grilled cheese and ham sandwiches for lunch. The weather was warm and sunny. There was an opening ceremony which included the mayor of Quincy who spoke of the key role by John Adams in the American revolution.
Saturday afternoon was our first activity period of a service project. We went to the Dorothy Quincy Hancock historic house where we planted bulbs and shrubs and cleaned up some trash. When we got back to camp, we found that the wind had blown some of our tents over. So we fixed up the tents and staked them down more securely. Then we met some Civil War soldier reenactors who showed the scouts how to do some drills. Before dinner we had some free time and played baseball using a long pole for the bat and a football for the baseball. We made chicken alfredo for dinner. Then there was a patriotic evening program with two fife & drum bands and the singing trooper Dan Clark.
Sunday started with a beautiful sunrise but soon grey clouds rolled in and a cold rain started. We made breakfast sandwiches of sausage, egg, cheese and muffins. Our activity block for the morning was merit badges. Several scouts did the chess merit badge and others did space exploration. The merit badge classes met under the pavilion and were sheltered from the rain. By late morning, there was a break in the rain and the space exploration scouts got to launch rockets which was a fun adventure.
We had hot dogs, chips and potato salad for lunch. We also made oatmeal-chocolate-peanut butter cookies on the gas stove skillet. Our afternoon activity was the Presidents Trail walk which was 5+ miles and included the Church of the Presidents, Adams Academy with a museum exhibit by the Quincy Historic Society, John Adams house, the hill where Abigail Adams and John Quincy watched the battle of Bunker Hill, and Peacefield. We had guides for our walk who explained the sights and there were reenactors at a few stops. The rain held off for the walk except towards the end.
For dinner, we made pizzas on tortillas on the gas stove. The rain was steady but tapered off enough after dinner in time for a very large bonfire. The Quincy fire department had a fire truck parked nearby just-in-case. There were a bunch of goofy campfire skits.
Monday morning was a quick breakfast, pack up, quick closing ceremony and then drive home.
