Scouting in Connecticut has experienced many organizational changes since 1910. With only eight counties, Connecticut has had 40 Boy Scout Councils since the Scouting movement began in 1910. In 1922, 17 Boy Scout Councils existed in Connecticut, but currently only four exist. The Girl Scouts of the USA has had at least 53 Girl Scout Councils in Connecticut since their program began in 1912. Today there is one, Girl Scouts of Connecticut, which assumed operation on October 1, 2007.

Scouting America

Current councils

Connecticut has had as many as forty Scouting America councils since 1910. Currently five councils exist in Connecticut. Four Councils (Connecticut Rivers, Connecticut Yankee, Greenwich and Housatonic) are located within the state of Connecticut. The fifth, Narragansett Council in Rhode Island, serves the youth in the community of Pawcatuck, Connecticut.

All in all, these Councils serve more than 61,700 boys, young men and women in all facets of the Scouting program. They are led by a volunteer group numbering well over 15,000 men and women. 627 young men were awarded their Eagle Badge in 2005.

In 2005, Scouts gave the citizens of Connecticut well over 750,000 community service hours, ranging from Eagle Scout projects and Scouting for Food to participating in the National Good Turn for America initiative.

The four Connecticut councils operate over of camp grounds which serve over 8,700 boys and girls in Scouting, as well as several more thousands of non-Scouts that use Scout camps throughout the year.Scouting History in Connecticut

Connecticut Rivers Council

Connecticut Rivers Council is the largest of the four Connecticut-based Councils. It serves the youth in 127 communities, covering six and a half of the eight counties in Connecticut and Fishers Island, New York.

Connecticut Yankee Council

Connecticut Yankee Council serves 37 communities which covers half of New Haven county and most of Fairfield counties.

Greenwich Council

Greenwich Council serves one Connecticut community, the town of Greenwich.

Housatonic Council

Housatonic Council serves 5 communities in the Naugatuck Valley region.

Narragansett Council

The Narragansett Council's insignia and shoulder patch list "RI MA CT" as the states in which it operates. The council serves all of Rhode Island and several entire counties in Massachusetts. However, the "CT" portion is limited to the village of Pawcatuck, along the Pawcatuck River that separates Connecticut from Rhode Island. Pawcatuck is in the town of Stonington, whose other units are part of the Connecticut Rivers Council.

Defunct councils

Alfred W. Dater Council The Alfred W. Dater Council #078, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, came about from a name change of Stamford Council in 1938. Alfred W. Dater had served as the first president of the Stamford Council until his death in February 1938. On December 2, 1938, in honor of his 22 years of service to Stamford Council, the council was renamed in his honor.

The council grew through the 1940s and in 1947 John Sherman Hoyt donated of land in Norwalk, Connecticut for use for short-term camping. After that the camp was named Five Mile River Camp.

As Scouting celebrated its 40th anniversary in February 1950, the Council joined in by paying its last mortgage payment on Camp Toquam. The Council reported that it was serving 3,269 boys and adults and plans to build their own Scout headquarters in Glenbrook section of Stamford, Connecticut. The building was sponsored by the Union Memorial Church and financed by donations from the Lions Club and by selling a portion of the Five Mile River Camp.

The purchase of the Williams Training Center in the late 1950s was made possible by selling the remaining portion of Five Mile River Camp. The Ponus Lodge #521 of the Order of the Arrow was established in 1956.

The Council celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1967 with 2,620 registered Scouts. In 1971, the Council reported 3,000 registered Scouts. The following year, the Boy Scout Councils of Alfred W. Dater, Mauwehu and Pomperaug voted to consolidate their operations into a new Council. In 1972 the Council ceased operations and the new one, Fairfield County Council, began its history.

Ponus Lodge Ponus Lodge #521 was the OA lodge for the Alfred W. Dater Council. Their name comes from the chief of the Rippowam Tribe. Their lodge totem is a "false face" Iroquois mask in the image of "Hoba Mako" (rough spelling). Founded in 1956, the lodge ceased its operations when it merged with Chief Pomperaug #408 and Mauwehu #389 to form Tankiteke Lodge #313 in 1972.

Bridgeport Council Bridgeport Council #065 was headquartered in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Founded in 1915, it changed its name to Pomperaug Council in 1936.

Bristol Area Council Bristol Area Council #066 was headquartered in Bristol, Connecticut. It was founded in 1918 and operated until it merged with Keemosabee Council to form Nathan Hale Council in 1967.

Woapalane Lodge Woapalane Lodge #471 was the OA lodge for Bristol Council. Their name translates to "bald eagle" which is also their lodge totem. The lodge was founded in 1952 and ceased operations in 1967 when it merged with Keemosahbee #234 to form Wihungen #234.

Camp Cochipianee The camp was founded in 1928 by the Bristol Area Council. It was sold after the New Britain Area Council and the Bristol Area Councils were merged into what was then called Nathan Hale Council in 1972. The new Council changed the name of New Britain's Camp Keemosabee into Camp Nahaco.

In 1980, a program pavilion at Camp Nahaco was enclosed and insulated. This winter shelter was dedicated in the name of Camp Cochipianee. It shares the parade field with another winter shelter named after the former Camp Keemosabee.

Central Connecticut Council Central Connecticut Council #071 had its headquarters in Meriden, Connecticut. The Council came about from a name change of Meriden Council in 1929. The Council encompassed the towns of Meriden, Wallingford, and Southington. It ceased to operate in 1978, when it was absorbed by Quinnipiac Council. It owned Camp Terramuggus. The council also owned Deer Lake Scout Reservation, later operated by the Quinnipiac Council and then the Connecticut Yankee Council until it was sold in 2022 to another organization which will continue to use it as a camp property.

Wangunks Lodge Wangunks Lodge #274 was the OA lodge for the Central Connecticut Council. Their name translates to "bend in the river" in the Algonquian language. Their lodge totem is an American eagle. The lodge was absorbed into Arcoon Lodge #369 in 1978.

Central Fairfield Council Central Fairfield Council #075 was headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. The Council came about from a name change of Norwalk Council in 1933.

Charter Oak Council Charter Oak Council #070, was headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut. The Council came about from a name change of Hartford Council in 1933. In 1972, the Council ceased to exist when it merged with Mattatuck, Middlesex County, Nathan Hale and Tunxis to form Long Rivers Council.

Wipunquoak Lodge #558 was the OA lodge for the Charter Oak Council. Their name translates to "white oak" (Lenape). Their lodge totem is the Charter Oak. The lodge was founded in 1964 and ceased operation when it merged with Kiethan #59, Mattatuck #217, Wihungen #234 and Tunxis #491 to form Eluwak #59 in 1973.

Lake of Isles Scout Reservation The Lake of Isles Scout Reservation (LOISR) was developed by the Charter Oak Council and had its first summer camp season in 1960, the Jubilee Year of the Boy Scouts of America.Lake of Isles Scout Reservation The plan was to develop four camps on the more than that surrounded Lake of Isles, located in North Stonington, Ledyard and Preston townships of rural southeastern Connecticut. For 1960, Camps Pequot and Apache had been the only ones built. A third camp, Camp Cherokee, opened in 1970. This camp was designated an "Explorer Base" (although the Boy Scouting program was the only program that really used the camp as the Exploring program underwent drastic changes by the early 1970s) and featured patrol cooking with a central commissary. The fourth camp never got beyond the planning stage.

The Charter Oak Council merged with four other Councils in 1972 to form Long Rivers Council. By the mid-1970s, with a declining Boy Scout-age demographic nationally and declining Boy Scout membership in general due to the expanding list of organizations for adolescent boys, Long Rivers Council was faced with shutting down a number of their camps to the summer camping experience. For instance, Camp Nahaco closed to regular summer camping after 1977 (although it would occasionally re-open for long-term camping with specialty themes such as "Enviro-Camp"). Camp Tadma was closed in 1977, but a couple of years later opened again as a long-term Webelos Camp.

The plan for LOISR was to close Camp Pequot for two years and run Camp Apache for two years, then switch the status of the camps for the following two years. They expected this to reduce the impact of a summer camp season on the land by spreading out the wear and tear. So in 1975 and 1976, Camp Pequot was placed in "conservation status", and Camps Apache and Cherokee ran during those two summers. In 1977, Camp Apache was placed in conservation status and Camp Pequot was re-opened. However, for 1979, Long Rivers Council management changed its plan and decided to keep Camps Pequot and Cherokee open permanently. For 1981, Camp Cherokee's patrol cooking operation was moved to Camp Pequot, as an option for troops who preferred this. Thus, while still a reservation of multiple camps, by the 22nd year of operation of LOISR, only Camp Pequot remained as a summer camp.

The summer camp season also shortened as time went on. In the 1960s, both Pequot and Apache opened for eight weeks of summer camp use. By the mid-1970s, this was down to six weeks for Camp Apache. By the late seventies, Camp Pequot was only open for summer camping three weeks out of the summer. With the closure of Camp Cherokee after the 1980 season, Camp Pequot's season expanded back to five weeks.

With the construction of the Mashantucket Pequot Casino in 1991–1992, the natural beauty and surroundings had been damaged enough to make Long Rivers Council consider selling the property to the Native American tribe and this was done in 1992. The Mashantucket nation has since converted the land into a golf course.

Camp Apache – Lake of Isles Scout Reservation Camp Apache had the largest capacity of the three camps, serving as many as 400 Scouts a week at its height in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It had a large dining hall and a huge reservation chapel. It also was closest to the reservation entrance on the western shores of Lake of Isles. The Reservation Family Housing (on "Knob Hill") and the Reservation Health Lodge were also located in Camp Apache.

In 1975 and 1976, Camp Apache ran for the last time during two summer seasons. In 1977, it was placed in conservation status and was never opened again as a Boy Scout Camp. Occasionally, it was rented by other groups and Scouts would continue to use Camp Apache for short-term Camporees and other district events. However, the reservation itself was not within the geographic boundary of Long Rivers Council, making other Council camps closer to the Council membership. Thus, Camp Apache was never used as much as it could have been.

Camp Pequot – Lake of Isles Scout Reservation