Just a Little Post-Holiday Get-Together…

Come join us on Saturday, January 19th, 2008, from 11:00am through 3:00pm at Heritage State Park in Fall River for our Winter Gathering! This year's event is free, and promises to be both friendly and informative. This year, we'll be putting a little of the focus on one of the "predecessor" camps and looking back on the history of the former Camp Noquochoke on the shore of the Westport River, to share what we know and hopefully get some of the gaps in our knowledge filled.

Some of the things we have planned for the day include:

• Displays of Camp Noquochoke, Camp Cachalot and related Scouting artifacts
• Our collection of signs from Camp Noquochoke, including the recently-recovered main camp sign (more on this below)
• Slide and movie presentations of Camp-related photos, dating back to the 1920s
• A brief update on the Association's goings-on
• A presentation on Cachalot's ecology by alumnus Brian Bastarache
• A presentation on Noquochoke's history by alumnus Mike Vieira

Snacks and drinks will be on-hand throughout the day.

Our Presenters

Brian Bastarache is an at-large member of the Association's Executive Committee, and a former Nature Director for summer camp at Cachalot. Brian is the head of the Department of Natural Resource Management at Bristol County Agricultural High School, holds a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and is currently pursuing graduate studies at Harvard University. He has acted as curator for the Bristol County Natural History Center at BCAHS for several years, and has been active both in Scouting and in several biology- and natural history-related organizations including the Society for Conservation Biology and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.

Brian will be be discussing the ecology at Camp Cachalot, including the nature of pine barrens in general, local flora and fauna, and current issues facing Cachalot including invasive species like phragmites australis, an aggressively-growing reed which currently has a foothold on the northern shore of Five Mile Pond.

Michael Vieira is a member of the Association, having attended both Camp Noquochoke in his youth, and Camp Cachalot as an adult. He served on Noquochoke's staff in 1969, then later on Cachalot's staff, serving as Camp Director in 1976 and, more recently, as Camp Commissioner from 1997 through 1999. He is the Dean of the Division of Business and Information Management at Bristol Community College, and remains active in Scouting. He has contributed articles to local newspapers, including his "Letters from Camp" series written from Camp Cachalot during the summer of 1998 (see our links page to read these articles.) He is currently writing a book about Camp Noquochoke.

Mike will be discussing the history of Camp Noquochoke and sharing personal anecdotes from his own time there.

David Anderson is the Scout Executive for the Narragansett Council BSA, the parent organization of the Camp Cachalot Alumni Association and the Council currently responsible for the stewardship and operation of Cachalot Scout Reservation. A professional Scouter for over 25 years, Dave is himself a former Camp staffer from Camp Massawepie in upstate New York.

Dave will be speaking to our members about the impact the Association has had both at Camp and within the Narragansett Council since its establishment.

The Noquochoke Sign

For the first time since it was recovered, the main camp sign for Camp Noquochoke will be on display. The sign is currently in very poor condition as the result of years of exposure, and the Association hopes to kick off a restoration effort with the help of its members. We hope this will be the only time the sign will be displayed in its current state, so come by and see just how much work we have ahead of us in preserving this important historic artifact!

Share Your Memories

We are especially interested in any old photos and slides of Cachalot and Noquochoke that you might have. If you have pictures, feel free to bring them with you – we plan to have a computer scanning station set up and staffed by a member of our History committee to scan in prints and slides. Our ability to scan things in will be limited by the time we have available, so if you are able to scan things in yourself, feel free to bring them along in electronic form (CD- or DVD- recordable, USB or Firewire drive – contact curator@cachalotalumni.org if you have any questions about the formats we can cope with.) The higher the resolution, the better.

Thanks to our members, we've already collected over 1,500 photos covering the 1920s right through to modern times, although we're still missing photos of many notable figures from the past, photos of the old Quonset Hut, and have very few photos from Camp Noquochoke in general.

We look forward to seeing you (again)!

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