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White Sharks of Tahkodah -
In the early days of summer camp, held at Camp Wisdom in the Circle Ten Council of Texas, boys came to camp as individuals, not with their troop. Each campsite selected one outstanding Scout to be a member of the White Sharks of Tahkodah the week they were at camp. This Scout, so honored, had a shark emblem stamped on his Scout belt with a rubber stamp and he then colored it in with white paint at the handicraft area. This stamp was one of many national BSA rubber stamps available to councils at the time to use at
their camp to recognize various activities that Scout participated in during summer camp. In addition to a Scout being inducted into this group at camp, the White Sharks of Tahkodah held a banquet and reunion on December 26 each year at Camp Wisdom. According to Mikanakawa OA Lodge history, the White Sharks of Tahkodah were replaced by the Camp Wisdom Honor Campers and it in turn was replaced by Mikanakawa OA Lodge 101 in 1937.
Camp Ranger Bill O'Pry re-established the White Sharks of Tahkodah in
1986 at the camp as a service group that comes to the camp the first
weekend in May to help get the camp ready for the summer. Each person
who participates in the weekend, receives a White Shark patch, looking
the same as the belt rubber stamp. The program is still active today.
Camp Wisdom was first used as a Scout Camp in 1923 and is the oldest
existing camp in Texas. It is no longer used as a summer camp, but is now used as a weekend camp for Troops in the Dallas area. It has also become a Cub Scout Camp with many exciting new facilities such as a fort, two pirate ships, a castle, large Cub World activity building, an Indian village and other structures for use by Cub Scout Packs and Dens. The camp now has more people use the facility in a year than the other three camps of the Circle Ten Council combined. The Council just completed spending $3 million dollars on revamping and adding additional facilities and campsites to the 300+ acres located right next to Interstate 20.
Our thanks to Frank Hilton & Bob Reitz for the information on this page.
Material found on this page is the work of David L. Eby and used USSSP, Inc. by permission. This material may not be reproduced without the express permission of David L. Eby
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