The Central Florida Council serves

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...

in Orange, Osceola, Seminole,

Lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

, Brevard, Volusia and Flagler Counties in Florida. Its headquarters was previously located in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

and is currently located in Apopka, Florida, just north of Orlando. Its primary Scout camp is Camp La-No-Che in

Paisley, Florida Paisley is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lake County, Florida, United States. The population was 818 at the 2010 census, up from 734 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan St ...

, adjacent to the

Ocala National Forest The Ocala National Forest ls the second largest nationally protected forest in the U.S. State of Florida. It covers of northern Florida. It is located three miles (5 km) east of Ocala and southeast of Gainesville. The Ocala National For ...

. In 1922, the Central Florida Council, Boy Scouts of America, was chartered by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America to implement a quality Scouting program to all youth in its geographic area. The council is incorporated as a non-profit organization in the State of Florida.

Organization

The council is broken down into eight geographical districts covering a seven county area: * Timuqua District * Riverside District * Challenger District * Eagle Empire District * Colonial District * Lake District * Osceola District * Seminole District

Council Insignia

The current council insignia is worn on the left shoulder of Cub Scout (to include Webelos), Boy Scout and adult leader uniforms and replaces the while block lettering on a red field insignia that spelled out "CENTRAL FLORIDA COUNCIL" or the alternative white on red community and state strips indicating a unit's location that were worn from the 1930s to the mid-1970s. The current insignia depicts a launching

Saturn V Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, with multistage rocket, three stages, and powered with liquid-propellant r ...

lunar rocket, given the presence of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

John F. Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field ...

within the council's boundaries, a Scouting fleur-de-lis above a crescent moon against a blue Central Florida sky, followed by a stand of orange trees, given the citrus industry's significant presence in Central Florida. The insignia was slightly modified in the late 1980s, temporarily replacing the

with a profile of a launching

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

before returning to the current rocket profile following the Space Shuttle's retirement.

Camps

Camp La-No-Che

Camp La-No-Che is the

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

Camp Camp may refer to: Outdoor accommodation and recreation * Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site * a temporary settlement for nomads * Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...

located on the north shore of Lake Norris in

. It is a part of Central Florida Council of the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

and is home to Tipisa Lodge of the Order of the Arrow (OA). Camp La-No-Che is part of the

Leonard and Marjorie Williams Family Scout Reservation Scouting in Florida is composed of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA) local councils in Florida. Scouting in Florida has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the env ...

. La-No-Che is and located near the southern border of the

and on the shores of lake Norris. It is also on the north side of the Wekiva River Protection Area. The camp is open year-round with its most active time being the 8 weeks during summer camp in June and July. La-No-Che also hosts weekends for local high school JROTC units, Venturing units,

Learning for Life Learning for Life (LFL) is a United States school and work-site based youth program that is an affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizati ...

units,

Cub Scouts (Boy Scouts of America) Cub Scouting is part of the Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), available to boys and girls from kindergarten through fifth grade, or 5 to 10 years of age and their families. Its membership is the largest of the five main BSA d ...

, and

Webelos (Boy Scouts of America) Cub Scouting is part of the Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), available to boys and girls from kindergarten through fifth grade, or 5 to 10 years of age and their families. Its membership is the largest of the five main BSA d ...

weekends. Tipisa Lodge also hosts OA events including sectional weekends. There are multiple sub-camp locations on the Leonard and Marjorie Williams Family Scout Reservation including Camp Rybolt — a large group camping area, Camp Pooh Bear — a secluded and primitive camp, and Adventure Camp, which has a

Project COPE COPE is an acronym for Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience, a program in the Boy Scouts of America. It consists of group initiative games, trust events, and high and low ropes course. Some activities involve a group challenge, while others dev ...

course. The camp has two waterfront areas with docks, an aquatics program, a climbing wall, two swimming pools,

laundry Laundry refers to the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with t ...

facilities, a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

( camp store),

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

, and

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

ranges, a health lodge, outdoor

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

, a Order of the Arrow museum, dining hall, and multiple modern latrines. Also contained on the property is a water treatment plant, 5 residential houses, sulphur springs, Pooh Bear Lake, 25 Troop campsites, 2 Staff Bunkhouses, 8 staff cabins, a baseball field, amphitheater, basketball court, bouldering wall, a dance arbor, and the

Florida Trail The Florida Trail is one of eleven National Scenic Trails in the United States. It currently runs , from Big Cypress National Preserve (between Miami and Naples, Florida along the Tamiami Trail) to Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore, ...

. The W.T. Bland Dining Hall is a full-service food facility able to produce 3 meals a day for 1000+ campers. Adventure treks and

hiking trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. The ...

s are numerous including Big Stump, a 12'

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...

stump Stump may refer to: * Stump (band), a band from Cork, Ireland and London, England * Stump (cricket), one of three small wooden posts which the fielding team attempt to hit with the ball *Stump (dog): Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee (born 1998), 200 ...

and an Orlando area attraction trek, Eagle Week,

SCUBA diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

, climbing, caving,

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

, and trail biking.

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

Health & Safety Certifications are also offered.

History

Central Florida Council's summer camping was originally located at Camp WeWa off of

Orange Blossom Trail U.S. Route 441 (US 441) in Florida is a north–south United States Highway. It runs from Miami in South Florida northwest to the Georgia border north of the Lake City area. Like all AASHTO designated highways in Florida, US 441 always ...

( US Hwy 441) in Apopka, Florida. Due to limited available land for expansion, close proximity to a highway, and a polluted lake on property, the Central Florida Council decided to seek new property around 1949. The Committee to find new land suitable for a summer camp was headed by Judge Don Cheney, an Orange County judge and long time Scouting supporter who was the first president of the Central Florida Council when it was organized in the 1920s. Through various means they investigated the Gould Hunting Lodge on the north shore of Lake Norris in

Lake County, FL Lake County is a county in the central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 383,956. Its county seat is Tavares, and its largest city is Clermont. Lake County is included in the Orlando-Kissimmee- S ...

. The hunting lodge was owned by the wealthy Gould family from

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, owners of the Gould Pump Company. The former Camp WeWa was sold to the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

of Central Florida, which still operates a program there under that name. The first summer camp held on the new property was in 1950. During 1950 and 1951 there was no public electrical hook up onto the camp, although there was an

electrical generator In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) or fuel-based power (chemical energy) into electric power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, gas ...

used for lights and a well-water pump.

Ice Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

blocks were brought in along with

butane Butane () or ''n''-butane is an alkane with the formula C4H10. Butane is a gas at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Butane is a highly flammable, colorless, easily liquefied gas that quickly vaporizes at room temperature. The name but ...

and

propane Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...

for cooking and hot water purposes. In 1952, a 5000

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

generator Generator may refer to: * Signal generator, electronic devices that generate repeating or non-repeating electronic signals * Electric generator, a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. * Generator (circuit theory), an eleme ...

was purchased due to plans for an on-site

refrigerator A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...

unit. A few years later on the west end of the property land was purchased from the Dyke family, who was given continued access. Their house still exists today. The purchased land included the Sulfur Springs and the Big Stump nature areas, as well as a creek that feeds into Lake Norris. The camp name was given by Judge Don Cheney and consists of "La" for Lake, "No" for Norris and "Chee" to give it an Indian sounding ending. According to Tom Burgess a professional

Scouter A Scout leader or Scouter generally refers to the trained adult leader of a Scout unit. The terms used vary from country to country, over time, and with the type of unit. Roles There are many different roles a leader can fulfill depending on t ...

of that era, "Cheney absolutely insisted that the name be La-No-Che... one "e", and even in the face of the fact that "La Noche" translates "the night" in Spanish...behind his back everyone understood that it was his way of putting the name of "Cheney" on the camp in perpetuity!" In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the council maintained two additional camps in northwestern Seminole County on the east and west sides of Markham Woods Road, Camp Howard and Camp Wilderness, respectively. Camp Howard was originally established in 1945, during the period of

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

, as a camp for black Boy Scouts in Central Florida. Fully racially integrated by the early 1960s, Camp Howard contained a large lake for watersports activities and a limited number of other structures and facilities, albeit to a much lesser degree than Camp La-No-Che, while Camp Wilderness was an austere and essentially undeveloped facility for advanced scout camping by older Boy Scouts and Explorers. Given the costs of maintaining these additional facilities and the increasing value of the land for residential development, the council decommissioned both camps and sold both properties in the early 1970s. The site of Camp Howard became part of the current community of

Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

, while the Camp Wilderness site became part of the adjacent community of Alaqua. Sales of both properties permitted the council to devote greater resources to the expansion and enhancement of Camp La-No-Che. In the mid-1990s, the Florida-based

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

chain, Winn-Dixie, donated a large sum of money to the Central Florida Council, and the camp was given the overall title of " Winn-Dixie Scout Reservation." In 2007, the Winn-Dixie name expired, and the Scout Reservation later sold naming rights to the Leonard and Marjorie Williams family.

Order of the Arrow

Tipisa Lodge #326 is a Lodge of the Order of the Arrow associated with Central Florida Council. It is descended from the Tipisa Honor Camper Society, and is the only lodge of that organization to retain the Tipisa name. Tipisa weekends are always held at

Camp La-No-Che The Central Florida Council serves Boy Scouts in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, Brevard, Volusia and Flagler Counties in Florida. Its headquarters was previously located in Orlando, Florida and is currently located in Apopka, Florida, just ...

. It is part of Section 4, Southern Region. As of 2013, membership in Tipisa Lodge numbered more than 1,400 Scouts and Scouters. The Lodge was formed as an extension of the "Tipisa Honor Camper Society" in 1938. The society, which was originally created in 1930, also had chapters in Boy Scout councils in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. The Indiana chapter was chartered as an OA Lodge under the name "Me-she-kin-no-quah #269" in 1944, and the Michigan chapter was chartered as "Tecumseh #332" in 1946. The Central Florida chapter retained the Tipisa name, and was also chartered as an OA Lodge in 1946. "Tipisa" is from the

Sioux language Sioux is a Siouan language spoken by over 30,000 Sioux in the United States and Canada, making it the fifth most spoken indigenous language in the United States or Canada, behind Navajo, Cree, Inuit languages, and Ojibwe. Regional variation Si ...

, meaning "red tipi". Tipisa hosts 4 events annually, including: Spring Conclave in March, OA Service Weekend in May, the Lodge Leadership Development Program (LLDP) and Banquet in August, and Fall Fellowship in September. It also hosts TNAW (Tipisa Native American Weekend) in February. The chapters of the lodge host their own Ordeal weekends (with some chapters holding joint weekends) from October to February. Tipisa Lodge is divided into eight chapters, each representing a separate district of Central Florida Council. * Timuqua District - Micco-Tomokee * Riverside District - Nefketeh * Challenger District - Kikape * Eagle Empire District - Lemhee-Yekchi * Colonial District - Lodja Hadjo * Lake District - Wewahitchka * Osceola District - Wahitlaw * Seminole District - Huracan

References

External links

Tipisa Lodge #326 Official Website

Camp La-No-Che Official website

Boy Scouts of America
{{Authority control Local councils of the Boy Scouts of America Youth organizations established in 1922 Southern Region (Boy Scouts of America) Youth organizations based in Florida 1922 establishments in Florida