Cachalot Turns 75!
On September 18th, 2021 we will be hosting a Homecoming event like no other Homecoming event so far: Cachalot is turning 75, and we’re pulling out all the stops to celebrate!
Arrivals begin at 11:00am. You'll check in at the Welcome Center at the boathouse. We’ll get started over at the Noquochoke Lodge Pavilion by Tom Cullen Field for a cookout lunch with your fellow alumni. You’ll have plenty of time to catch up with old camp friends, or maybe introduce yourself to some new ones, and check out camp memorabilia and some of the Association’s photo and video archives under the pavilion. Lunch will begin at noon.
After you’ve had some food, we’ll get started on the day’s events. We’ll begin with a brief meeting of the Association, as wth the events of 2020 it has been well over a year and a half since our last meeting at Winter Gathering 2020. We’ll talk a bit about the state of the Association, update you on recent goings-on at Cachalot, and give you a look at the projects we have planned at camp and the events still to come in our Diamond Jubilee year, which we won’t wrap up until March of 2022.
We’ll then relocate over to the Bill Joyce Memorial Flag field for our Wall of Fame induction.
After celebrating our Wall of Fame honorees, we will shift to celebrating Cachalot itself! The program for the celebration is still being developed, but is sure to include lots of stories and memories from seventy-five years of spring, summer, fall, and winter activities at Cachalot.
We also plan to offer historic tours of Cachalot, to give you the opportunity to see those places you remember from your time at camp (or, if you haven’t been out in a while, to see what has changed at Cachalot since your last visit.)
Once we wrap up our formal program and our tours, Cachalot will remain open long enough for you to take in sunset over Five Mile Pond, and continue your conversations with other alumni.
Cachalot only turns 75 once, and we hope that you'll be able to make the time to come out to camp on the 18th to help us mark the occasion. Whether you can make it or not, we ask that you please spread the word: if you're still in touch with other folks who have attended events at Cachalot over the years, please pass the information about this event on to them. We'd hate for anyone to miss the party because they never heard about it!
This is the capstone event for our Diamond Jubilee celebration. If you want to check out the rest of our coverage of Cachalot's 75th, including our Brief History of Cachalot video documentary, interviews with members of the Cachalot family, and back issues of our monthly jubilee e-newsletter, The Spouter, head on over to our main 75th Anniversary page and browse a while!
About our Honorees
Marcel Hudon is our 2020 Honoree. Marcel was a true inspiration to Scouters of all ages. He was always willing to help out in any capacity. At the unit level, he served in the leadership of multiple units over several decades, including Troops 43, 68, 14, 12, and 24. He was a fixture on Roundtable Staff, Wood Badge Staff, and the Training Committee, and at Cachalot as a Camp Commissioner. He was a long-time adviser to the Neemat Lodge Order of the Arrow, often helping out in the kitchen at lodge events. At camporees and other events he was often seen with his frequent partner-in-crime, Wall-of-Famer Al Hall, helping teach Scouts at camp how to build a hobo stove, manage a bean pit, or care for cast iron cookware. For his contributions, Marcel received multiple awards in Scouting, including the District Award of Merit and the Silver Beaver.
Dave Trull remembers Marcel like this: “Mostly working ‘behind the scenes’, his contributions to Cachalot are too numerous to name as he seemed to be a constant presence. One of my favorite recollections was Marcel’s attempts at tree replanting as he had a black walnut tree at home and he would bring bags of the black walnuts and scattered them around the camp as he’d walk around. He was dedicated to the betterment of Cachalot and any remaining black walnut trees are due to his efforts.”
Professionally, Marcel worked as a machinist, and would often use those skills to make things needed at Cachalot.
For his service and program contributions, our members honored Marcel with a spot on the Wall of Fame in 2020. As we had no Homecoming in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be formally recognizing him in 2021.
Dennis J. Wilkinson, II is our 2021 Honoree. Dennis first came to Cachalot as a member of Pack 12 New Bedford in the fall of 1978. He spent his youth in Pack 12, Troop 12, and Troop 46 New Bedford where he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. While a youth he served two terms as Lodge Chief of Neemat Lodge, after holding several other positions in the lodge. He co-chaired the first Spring Into Scouting event held at Cachalot, and went on to serve on its staff for several years.
He first served as an adult as an Assistant Scoutmaster with Troop 46, going on to serve as Scoutmaster, Committee Chairman, and Committee Member with Troop 46, then as a Committee Member with Troop 1 New Bedford and Troop and Crew 24 New Bedford.
Dennis served on the Camp Cachalot Summer Camp Staff and Cub Day Camp Staff in various leadership roles, including serving as the summer camp Program Director in 1991. He served on the staff of the National Jamboree in 1989 and attended Philmont Scout Ranch in 1984. He also served a brief stint as temporary Camp Ranger.
Dennis has served on the Moby Dick Council Camping and Properties Committee. He is a member of the Camp Cachalot Campmaster Corps since its inception, and has served on staffs of numerous events.
While a youth he helped produce two Camp Cachalot Songbooks that are still in use today. After completing college, along with fellow Eagle Scouts and Troop 46ers Peter Ashworth and Thomas Whelan, Dennis hiked the entire Appalachian Trail.
Although Dennis has contributed to Camp Cachalot serving on numerous Order of the Arrow service weekends, Beaver Days, and Alumni Service projects, his greatest contribution has come through our Alumni Association. His tireless dedication to preserving history, traditions, and communications have inspired countless individuals to contribute to our archives and assist our Association’s efforts in maintaining Cachalot for future generations. He is a founding member, and the first Lifetime member of the Association. He designed the Association’s logo, has served as the Association’s Secretary and Vice-Chairman, works with the Council Office to keep our membership database up-to-date and has filled the role of Communications Chairman since the beginning of the Association. He’s the primary author and editor of The Cachaletter, and designs, writes, and produces nearly all of the printed material that comes from the Association, along with many of our merchandise items. He also maintains the Association’s presence on the web and on social media.
Dennis is often spotted with his cameras around camp, capturing images and video of Association and camp events to share with the Cachalot family. He also does video production for our events. For the last 5 years he has turned many of those photos into a Cachalot calendar which he sells and donates both printing costs and proceeds to the Association. He also donates the proceeds of sales of his camp photographs to the Association.
When Dennis is not busy doing everything already described, he somehow finds time to be the main Archivist and Historian for the Association. He researches and documents the histories of Camps Cachalot, Noquochoke, and local Scouting in general, and has published dozens of articles on that history, spending many, many hours researching newspapers, magazines, and book archives both online and at libraries on microfilm.
He has scanned thousands of historic photos and documents, photographed memorabilia, and digitized or donated the cost of film transfers, video and film for the Association’s archive, which currently stands at over 8,000 photos, over 1,000 documents, and more than 40 hours of video.
He has helped provide archival material for the OA’s history project celebrating the Order of the Arrow’s 100th Anniversary, along with providing archival material for Mike Vieira’s History of Noquochoke book.
Since the Association’s founding in 2004, Dennis continues to pay for much of what he does, often not seeking reimbursement from the Association, and those contributions well exceed $10,000 over that time frame.
For all of Dennis’ service and financial contributions, our membership has seen fit to elect Dennis to a spot on the Camp Cachalot Wall of Fame.
More Details
Homecoming 2021 is a free event for members and non-members alike. Lunch is optional, with a suggested donation of $5 to help us defray the cost.
The Wall of Fame dedication and induction ceremony will begin at approximately 1:30pm, in the Bill Joyce Memorial Flag Field. While we'll have some seating set aside for our honorees and their families if you'd like to be able to sit down during the ceremony we strongly suggest bringing along a camp chair for yourself. The luau will follow the induction ceremony at the Waterfront. If you'd like to have a look around but don't quite remember the way, members of the Alumni Association will be on-hand to help you find your old haunts.
As always, our History Committee will be on-hand to scan your photos and slides or photograph any memorabilia that you'd like to show off. Bring along your items to be scanned, or bring your digital pictures in almost any format. Contact curator@cachalotalumni.org if you have questions about this. If you have a large number of photos or slides, we may not be able to handle them at the event but would still like to make arrangements to capture them, so please contact us at that email in that case.
Registration Details
Even though this is a free event, we'd still appreciate it if you'd let us know you're coming, especially if you plan on joining us for lunch. If you're a Facebook® user, and would like the event to show up in your events list there, you can RSVP via the event’s page on Facebook®, otherwise you can:
Click here to register online right now!
There's no need to register via both methods. If you do register on Facebook, please be sure to let us know if you'll be dining with us (a comment on the Event's wall is fine.)Additional Information
If you have questions that aren't answered here, please drop us an email message at homecoming@cachalotalumni.org.
We hope you’ll be able to join us and help us recognize this years Wall of Fame honoree and his efforts to make “the place we know so well” what it is today!
See you in July!
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