Cradle of Liberty Council

Owner

Boy Scouts of America

Headquarters

Wayne, Pennsylvania

Country

United States

Coordinates

Coordinates: 39°57′32″N 75°10′32″W / 39.959°N 75.17552°W

Founded

1996

President

James Papada

Council Commissioner

Charles Bolger

Scout Executive

Daniel Templar

Website
http://www.colbsa.org/

The Cradle of Liberty Council (#525) is a Boy Scouts of America council created in 1996 with the merger of the former Philadelphia Council (covering the city and county of Philadelphia) and the former Valley Forge Council (covering Delaware and Montgomery counties).

The present council is the result of the 1996 merger of Philadelphia and Valley Forge councils. Philadelphia Council was founded in 1911. In 1913, the Council opened one of the earliest Scout camps in the United States, Treasure Island Scout Reservation, near Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania. Two years later, Dr. E. Urner Goodman and Carrol Edson founded the Order of the Arrow there, inducting the first members on July 16, 1915. Philadelphia Council opened Camp Hart (later Hart Scout Reservation) in Green Lane, Pennsylvania in 1930.

The Valley Forge Council began operation in the 1910s as Delaware and Montgomery County Council, although the council office was never within the council boundaries (in Center City Philadelphia until the 1960s when it was moved to Valley Forge in Chester County.) The council was renamed "Valley Forge Council" in the late 1930s. The council was named for the George Washington's historic winter encampment of 1777-78 at Valley Forge. The council opened Camp Delmont (later called "Delmont Scout Reservation" as of the early 1960s) in 1916 in Green Lane, Pennsylvania. Camp Hart and Camp Delmont were adjacent properties.

In 1955, some 4,600 acres became available in Marshall's Creek. Site of a hunting facility, it was found admirably suited for Scouting purposes and purchased jointly by the "Federation" of Philadelphia and Valley Forge Councils to create Resica Falls Scout Reservation. Joint development and use occurred until 1965, when Valley Forge Council bought out Philadelphia Council's interest and the federation was dissolved. When the two councils merged in 1996 to create Cradle of Liberty Council, Scouts from Philadelphia, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties once again camp together. Since February 22, 1913, Valley Forge Council, and its predecessor had hosted an annual Scouting event, the Valley Forge Pilgrimage and Encampment, which is sponsored by the Cradle of Liberty Council.

...
Wikipedia