Scouting in Virginia

Scouting in Virginia has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live. Many of the local groups and districts took names of historic Virginia Indian tribes in the state.

William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America at 11:03 am on February 8, 1910, in Washington, D.C., on the advice of railroad executive and later first national president of the organization Colin H. Livingstone, with assistance from lawyers at the firm Ralston, Siddons and Richardson. Six months later in Norfolk, Charles Merrill Watson, pastor of First Christian Church, organized Troop 1, the first Boy Scout troop in Virginia.

In the next year the National Capital Area Council was formed. The oldest unit in the council is Troop 52, out of All Saints Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase. This unit dates all the way back to 1913. When the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia decided that the security of suffrage marchers in 1916 was not their problem, Troop 52 Scouts marched alongside the women.

From 1981 National Scout Jamboree, through the 2010 National Scout Jamboree, all Jamborees were held at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia.

The Blue Ridge Mountains Council (BRMC) serves Scouts in southwest and south central Virginia. The Council owns and operates the Blue Ridge Scout Reservation in Pulaski County, Virginia, the largest Council-owned Scout reservation in the United States, which hosts summer camps at Camp Powhatan and Camp Ottari.

Buckskin Council serves Scouts in Scouts in Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.

Formed by the merger of the Peninsula Council (Formerly Newport News Council) and the Old Dominion Council in 1996. Served by the Wahunsenakah Lodge of the Order of the Arrow.

Del-Mar-Va Council serves Scouts in Delaware, Maryland and Northampton and Accomack Counties in Virginia.