Camp Sidney Dew celebrates 80 years of service to Scouts
DWalker@RN-T.com
The year was 1939. A loaf of bread cost, $0.08, gas was $0.10 a gallon, the average price for a new car was $700 and a week at the brand new Boy Scouts of America Camp Sidney Dew cost $5.
Located up in an area simply known as The Pocket, the camp has grown from 80 acres to more than 650 mostly mountaintop acres virtually surrounded by the Chattahoochee National Forest.
On Friday, the Northwest Georgia Council of the Boy Scouts of America held a special 80th birthday celebration for the camp which has hosted thousands upon thousands of scouts through the years.
In the early 1990s, there was a real fear that the camp might cease to exist. There were rumors of a merger between the Northwest Council and either the Atlanta or Chattanooga councils.
If the Scouts ceased using the camp, it would revert back to the Dew family as had been stipulated when the family made the original donation of approximately 80 acres.
Horace “Ed” Edmondson, a Cedartown native who attended his first summer camp at Dew in 1940, said a group of dedicated volunteers made sure that didn’t happen. They created the Camp Sidney Dew Alumni Association, an organization that still exists in support of the camp and its impact on generations yet to come.
Edmondson graduated from Cedartown High in 1941 and served on the staff at camp that summer.
Aside from his days at Clemson, a stint in the U.S. Merchant Marines and a few years with GE up north before the Rome plant opened, Edmondson has been a fixture at the camp where he has taught wood carving for decades. Now one of the staff cabins is named for him.
“He has taught so many boys how to handle a knife,” said longtime Rome Scoutmaster Andy Davis said.
One thing that stands out about Camp Sidney Dew is, “probably the love that the adults still have for it when they come back,” Davis said.
“There have been a number of guys that have worked in the alumni association that come back and work on the weekends, some during the week, to try to maintain it and improve. It’s that kind of heart that has sustained it.”
Boy Scout units from all over the Southeast have come to Camp Sidney Dew through the years.
“They choose to go to Sidney Dew as opposed to one of the Atlanta area camps, because they get a personal and friendly staff that cares about working with their boys,” Davis said.
“I had a fantastic time at the Sidney Dew Summer Camp,” said Nate Kozelle, 12, a member of Scouts BSA Troop 113 in Rome. He particularly enjoyed an environmental science class where he learned that simple dish soap can remove oils from water. “In Wilderness survival we built a shelter to sleep in with the materials around us in the forest using no man made items,” Kozelle said. “In life saving we learned all about how to save people . ... We also got CPR certified.”
Camp Director Anthony Hall said the relatively small size of the camp makes it attractive.
“A lot of these big camps have a thousand kids that come a week and they can’t really address all of the needs the kids have,” Hall said. “We have small class sizes, quick turn around on any needs that have to be addressed and as people leave they always say that it’s definitely a family atmosphere here at camp.
Max McAdams, Scoutmaster for Troop 30 in Shannon said the impact of Camp Sidney Dew is not quantifiable.
“It affects boys is so many ways, in their character, how they make decisions, how they learn to interact with other around the world . ... It’s my favorite place on Earth,” he said.
The summer camps typically bring in about 200 kids a week. Northwest Council Scout Executive Jeff Brasher said it is available about 50 weeks.
“We try to minimize use in August be cause the camp is a living breathing thing and it does need to rest,” Brasher said. Christmas and Easter weeks are the only times when he said the camp actually shuts down.
This past week was a bittersweet week for kids from Troop 12 in Adairsville, the oldest troop in Georgia, founded in 1915.
While at Camp Sidney Dew, scouts learned of the death of Ray Ellis who had served as Scoutmaster for the troop for 45 years, according to family members. He was 88 years old.
To ease Fourth of July holiday traffic congestion in Northwest Georgia, the Georgia Department of Transportation is suspending construction-related lane closures on interstate highways from noon Wednesday, July 3, to 10 p.m. on Sunday, July 7. Lane closures will also be limited on state routes that directly serve major tourist and recreation centers.
“We hope this break in construction work will allow motorists to get to and from their holiday destinations with less congestion and less aggravation,” said Grant Waldrop, district engineer at the DOT office in White. “We understand that a lot of people are hitting the road for the Independence Day holiday and we would like to make it a little easier for them to go through Northwest Georgia. We also truly hope they will do so cautiously, courteously, and will wear their seat belts.”
Safety is always a primary concern. The department reminds motorists that crews may still work in proximity to highways; and safety concerns may require some longterm lane closures to remain in place. Also, incident management or emergency maintenance-related lane closures could become necessary at any time on any route. Whenever you approach a work zone: slow down; allow extra distance between vehicles; read signs; obey road crew flaggers; and expect the unexpected.
Georgia DOT urges drivers to “Drive Alert Arrive Alive.” Reduce distractions behind the wheel. Drive the speed limit and reduce your speed based on conditions. And always buckle up no matter how short your trip is.
In the event of a crash or breakdown, GDOT advises motorists to never get out of the car on a freeway, unless your life is in imminent danger. If possible, pull off the road, turn on your hazard lights and stay seat-belted in the vehicle with the doors locked.
For HERO assistance in metro Atlanta or CHAMP service on other highways in northwest Georgia call 511, a free phone service that provides real-time statewide information on Georgia’s interstates and state routes, such as traffic conditions, incidents, lane closures, and delays due to inclement weather.
Callers can transfer to operators to request assistance or report incidents 24 hours a day, seven days a week. More information is available at www.511ga.org.