The Scouting America National Capital Area Council (NCAC) is a local council of Scouting America within the Northeast Region that serves the Washington metropolitan area, including Washington, D.C., portions of Maryland and Virginia. The council offers extensive training, and administrative support to units. Scouting America National Capital Area Council -- Number 082 -- is one of the largest of over 200 local councils chartered by Scouting America. Chartered in 1911, it is also one of the oldest. NCAC serves members from 18 districts -- a geographical area within a local council that organizes and supports local Scouting units -- spread across northern Virginia, Maryland, and the entirety of the District of Columbia. The Maryland counties NCAC serves include: Frederick, Montgomery, Prince George's, Calvert, Charles, St. Mary's; the Virginia counties include: Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun, Fauquier, Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George, Stafford, Culpeper, as well as the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, Manassas Park and Fredericksburg. NCAC has 2 youth to 1 adult volunteer ratio, which is among the highest of all the councils. The youth retention rate is currently 68.5%.
History William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America -- now known as Scouting America -- at 11:03am on February 8, 1910, in the Washington, D.C., on the advice of railroad executive and later first national president of the organization Colin H. Livingstone, with assistance from lawyers at the firm Ralston, Siddons and Richardson. A year later the Scouting America National Capital Area Council was formed. The oldest unit in the council is Troop 52, chartered to All Saints Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase and was founded in 1913. When the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia decided that the security of suffrage marchers in 1916 was not their problem, the youth of Troop 52 took up that duty. Starting in 1996 the council annually sponsored the Commodore Henry I. Nygard Regatta along with the Friends of Sea Scouts of Maryland.
Many have served as council executive over the years. Linn Drake "headed the council through two world wars, [and] a depression." Clarence F. Urferr served as council executive from September 1, 1944, to March 1946, when he moved to Dallas to take over Region 3. Kenneth Spears served as council executive from March 1946 to 1951, when he was recalled by the US Air Force in the Korean War. Randolf Flythe left the council executive position to become the Northeast regional director. Ron Carroll served as council executive from 1990 to 2005. The most famous member of the council advisory board was Vince Lombardi.
In 2023, the NCAC appointed Mario Pérez as its Scout Executive/CEO. Pérez had previously served four years as the council's Deputy Scout Executive/Chief Operating Officer, and earlier was the Scout Executive/CEO of the Scouting America Yucca Council, which serves youth across West Texas and Southern New Mexico. Over a career spanning more than two decades, Pérez has held leadership roles in four Scouting America councils, contributing to program development and implementation for Scouts of all ranks.
The council's leadership had previously shifted in 2018, when Scout Executive Les Baron and Deputy Scout Executive Jeff Berger departed. The NCAC subsequently appointed Craig Poland -- formerly the Scout Executive of the Minsi Trails Council -- as its new Scout Executive, with Mario Pérez, then head of the Yucca Council, joining as his deputy. Following Poland's retirement in 2023, Pérez was selected to lead the council.
Organization The Scouting America National Capital Area Council is divided into four service areas, 18 districts, and one Learning for Life division.
Goshen Scout Reservation
Three Scouting America resident summer camps, two Cub Scout resident camps, and one high adventure resident camp occupy the land purchased in 1960 by the National Capital Area Council that borders the Goshen and Little North Mountain Wildlife Management Area and Little Calfpasture River outside of Goshen, Virginia, for $300,000 that is now Goshen Scout Reservation, often called just Goshen. Each camp program includes camping, swimming, merit badge counseling, shooting sports, boating, all-terrain vehicle riding, ecology education and Scoutcraft activities.Programs include:
The camps are all built around the Lake Merriweather, that was created by damming the Little Calfpasture River in 1966, before it joins with the Calfpasture to become the Maury, with a structure high and long. Lake Merriweather was named for Marjorie Merriweather Post, an ardent supporter of Scouting in the Washington, D.C., area. U.S. Steel public relations executive William G. Whyte helped acquire the tract of more than that is now the land of the Goshen Scout Reservation.
The Goshen reservation is the sum of seven separate camps circling Lake Merriweather. Camp Baird focuses on high adventure experiences.Camp Baird: Camp Bowman, Marriott and Olmsted all focus on Scouts BSA. Camp PMI and Ross focus on Webelos. Bowman provides meals where each unit's patrols all prepare their own meal at their own campsites, some other camps use dining halls. Camp Marriott offers campers a choice; they can either participate in the same patrol cooking method, or “heater stack”, a slightly different dining experience where troops eat pre-prepared food in their site; there is no dining hall at Marriott. Camp Post focuses on administrative functions and facilities used by all campers like the COPE climbing tower and ropes course.
During the first season of the drama 24 the fictional character Kim Bauer wears a Goshen Boy Scout Reservation shirt.
In commemoration of Goshen Scout Reservation's 50th anniversary, the National Capital Area Council hosted a camporee for all council Scouts and alumni on Memorial Day weekend 2017. Nearly 1,700 participants and 300 staff (youth and adults) enjoyed boating and sailing, shooting sports, geocaching, climbing, and outdoor skill challenges.
Camp William B. Snyder
Camp William B. Snyder or just Camp Snyder is an Cub Scout Camp in Prince William, Virginia, owned by the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. It is one of the largest Cub Scout Camps in the United States, with a dining hall that can accommodate 600 dinners at one time. The dining hall displays a picture of the building's namesake, Eagle Scout and former Marriott International executive Stephen Marriott, during his time as a Scout. Chairman of program development Raymond Johns said that the camp will serve about 1,000 Cub Scouts a week. Program areas include an archaeological site, archery, air rifle range, boating, campfire, ecology education, fishing, gaga pit, handicrafts, sailing ship, swimming pool, and western style fort.Program areas: Both bald eagles and red-tailed hawks can be seen at the camp.
In 1994 The Walt Disney Company bought extensive amounts of land in Haymarket, Virginia, for a proposed Disney's America theme park. Local resistance to the resort led to its end as a viable idea. William B. Snyder, a local business man convinced Disney to sell the property to him. Snyder, in turn, sold off most of the land to developers, except for the donated to the National Capital Area Council. Brian Luss served as the initial camp director.
In addition to summer camps, the camp has also hosted diverse Scouting events. During the summer of 2006 the camp hosted more than 1,000 youth participants at the greater DC area Cub Scout Jamboree in association with the Entomological Foundation. On May 3, 2008, the camp hosted more than 4,000 at the council-wide spring camporee, which included a visit from McGruff the Crime Dog. On May 28–29, 2016 the camp hosted the joint Jewish and Islamic Committee on Scouting Annual Camporee. On October 29, 2016, the camp hosted simulations of both an airplane and a school bus crash where volunteer victims acted out fictional injuries for Scouts to practice emergency aid skills. More than 1,000 Scouts and leaders from the Bull Run, Occoquan, Patriot and Sully Districts participated along with representatives from the Amangamek Wipit Lodge, American Red Cross, Asymmetric Warfare Group, Aviation Institute of Maintenance, Cookies and Cream, Fairfax County Sheriff's Office, George Mason Reserve Officers' Training Corps Cadets, Halloween Spirit Store, Lowe's, Outback Steakhouse, Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue, Prince William County Police Department, Shawn Landry & Quality Business Engineering, and the Virginia Airborne Search and Rescue Squad.
The camp has hosted events not connected to Scouting as diverse as USA Cycling Sportif Cross Cup Series, Sound United Drumline rehearsal, and the Northern Virginia Mormon Prom.USA Cycling Sportif Cross Cup Series: Sound United Drumline rehearsal: Northern Virginia Mormon Prom: For several years the Alexandria-Fairfax Alumni Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity run Kamp Kappa at Camp Snyder. Kamp Kappa campers are young men between the ages of 10–16 years physical challenges to encourage creative thinking, team building, self-respect, and respect for others. Group discussions and lectures cover health and drug awareness, cultural diversity, personal hygiene, and etiquette. Kamp Kappa also makes use of all the camp outdoor oriented facilities like canoeing, hiking, and swimming. Every September from 2005 to 2008 the Goose Creek district held a model rocket launching event at the camp. The camp was one of many official National Get Outdoors sites on the first annual National Get Outdoors Day on June 14, 2008. On June 4, 2010, at the camp the Forest Service and Prince William County Public Schools partnered to hold a conservation education program for 500 students that culminated in youth participants earning the Junior Forest Ranger distinction. On May 11, 2012, at the camp the Prince William Area Agency on Aging hosted a picnic with over 400 participants. May 13–14, 2014 the camp hosted the inaugural National Capital Area Council Sporting Clays Tournament, which returned in 2015, then in 2016 was renamed the Sporting Clays Classic.Sporting Clays Tournament, renamed the Sporting Clays Classic: On September 19, 2015, the camp hosted the Outdoor Channel production crew of the show NRA All Access who worked with dozens of local Scouts demonstrating several different types of shooting for a season five episode of the show. On March 26, 2016, the camp hosted an Easter egg hunt for 0-10-year-old children with a costumed Easter Bunny. On May 18, 2017, the camp hosted the Older American Picnic sponsored by Prince William Area Agency on Aging. This event included dancing, games, nature trails, motorcycle rides, fitness walk and entertainment by Norman Voss.
Camp Howard M. Wall
Named for Howard M. Wall, who added the estates Fareham, Petronella, and Longford to the Castle Nugent Farms cattle ranch in 1951, the Camp Howard M. Wall at Milord Point Beach on Route 62 at Great Pond Bay, in Estate Fareham, USVI is on the southeast end of Saint Croix.Namesake: Location: The camp is "located at the west side of Great Pond Bay." The camp offers bunkhouses intended to accommodate eight people per room, a shower house with gender segregated facilities, and a dining hall. Other facilities include a climbing tower, ropes course, central pavilion, and rifle range. Programs include fishing, games, guided kayak tour in Salt River Bay, hiking to the tidal pools, Jeep tour of St. Croix, Jeep tour of the rainforest, kayaking, shooting, snorkeling, snorkeling at Buck Island Reef National Monument, sports, swimming, and visiting historic Christiansted.