RT-07

1942 - 1946 Camp Cedar Valley

Description:       This insignia represents the very earliest years of Camp Cedar Valley from 1942 through 1947. The best opinion is that when a camper first attended Cedar Valley, they received the round patch show here. Each year thereafter, they would receive a different colored segment to surround the patch.

This patch is the first known reference to our council by the name Eastern Arkansas Area Council. It was produced at about the same time as a May 1942 newspaper story in the Jonesboro Tribune that also used the EAAC name. A number of stories have circulated concerning if our council was always known by this name or if it changed from Eastern Arkansas Council at some point. Perhaps the most common story was that the name was planned as EAAC, but somehow chartered missing the Area word in the original documents. In some cases, the intended name would be used while in others it would be used as the registered name. This confusion crept into our insignia typically as either EAAC or EAC. When the origins of this mix-up were uncovered the council probably took the steps to formally change the name to EAAC. This was likely to have been in the mid-1960s.

In 1942, a week cost $7.50. That year 618 scouts attended Cedar Valley during six camper weeks from June 28 - August 9. In December the first of at least five consecutive annual "Winter Camp" was held for sixteen campers. In 1943, we again operated six camper weeks, from June 27 to August 7, hosting 653 scouts. In 1944, camp attendance grew to 991. By January 1946 it was reported that the camp was "paid in full" and had received electricity. 741 scouts attended camp in 1946.

In September 2002, John Hardin reported that he has had for some years a patch that looks just like this one, only as a felt. Since the camp did not start operation until 1942, we are not clear if the felt version would have been issued concurrently with others or perhaps represented something apart from the standard issue. We have some suspicion that the felt might have been issued in 1942 and the twill 1943 through 1946.

Camp Location: Hardy, Arkansas
Designation:       RT-07
Characteristics: Dark Green twill; Red lettering; Red cut edge; 76mm.

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EAAC Historical Preservation Society
e-mail: eaac@eaac.org
Rev 25 Nov 2004 sw