History

The Order of the Arrow (OA) is the national honor society of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Founded in 1915, it uses American Indian traditions and ceremonies to bestow recognition on Scouts selected by their peers as best exemplifying the Scout Oath and Scout Law in their daily lives. Inducted members are known as Arrowmen or brothers and are organized into local youth-led lodges for fellowship and the rendering of service to Boy Scout councils and their communities.

The Order of the Arrow was founded in 1915 at a Scout summer camp at Treasure Island Scout Reservation near Philadelphia. The main creators were camp director E. Urner Goodman and his assistant Carroll A. Edson. Similar camping honor societies were established in other councils.^[1]

E. Urner Goodman

Goodman and Edson were looking for ways to improve the camp and to keep the older boys coming back. They looked at several sources in creating their new 'camp fraternity', including:^[2][3]

Edward Cave's Boy's Camp Book for the concept of a camp society that would perpetuate camp traditions.
College fraternities for the concepts of brotherhood and rituals, and the idea of new members pledging themselves to the new organization.
Ernest Thompson Seton's Woodcraft Indians for the use of American Indian lore to make the organization interesting and appealing to youth, which led them to incorporating traditions and legends of the local Lenni Lenape (Delaware) Indians in the OA's ceremonies.
Brotherhood of Andrew and Phillip, a Presbyterian church youth group with which Goodman had been involved as a young man.
Freemasonry and its traditions and rituals probably contributed more to the basic structure of the rituals than any other organization. In an interview with Edson during his later years, he recalled that the task of writing the first rituals of the Order of the Arrow was assigned to an early member who was "a 32nd degree Mason." Familiar terms such as "lodge" and "obligation," were borrowed from Masonic practice, as were some ceremonial practices. Even the early national meeting was called a "Grand Lodge," thought to be a Masonic reference. Goodman became a Mason only after the OA was established.

Unami Lodge is the first and oldest OA lodge, formed in 1915 at Treasure Island in the Philadelphia Council (now the Cradle of Liberty Council). The council also had several other OA lodges in the early days, as the bylaws allowed each Scout camp within a first class council to have its own lodge. Unalachtigo Lodge, based on the Turkey Clan of the Delawares was soon established at Camp Biddle.^[4] After bylaw changes and camp closuresthe other lodges were merged into Unami Lodge.

Originally known as Wimachtendienk,^[5] the organization was renamed to the Order of the Arrow in 1922 when it earned official recognition as an experimental program. A meeting of the National Lodge at the Owasippe Scout Reservation in 1933 voted to recommend that the BSA adopt the OA as part of its official program. The National Council established the Order of the Arrow as an official program in 1934 with full integration by 1948.

More than 180,000 youths and adults are members of the Order of the Arrow, approximately one-eighth of the total number of those registered in Boy Scouting. Since youth members are elected by their local unit, and since most of the members of their unit are generally not members of the Order of the Arrow, the OA is said to be the largest membership organization whose members are selected primarily by non-members. In contrast to Boy Scouting, where youth members are under 18 and adult members are those 18 and over, OA youth members include all persons under 21 years of age while those 21 and over are considered adult members.^[7]

The OA is a program of the Boy Scouting division; youth members are elected only from Boy Scout troops and Varsity Scout teams. To be eligible for election, a Scout must be at least First Class rank, have fulfilled specified camping requirements, have the approval of his Scoutmaster or Varsity Coach and must be elected by the youth members of the troop or team. Most lodges or chapters support an election team to help hold the OA elections; it is charged to inform the unit of the service and duty required of Arrowmen.

Adults who had not previously joined the Order as a youth member may become members by being nominated by the unit, district or council committee and then approved by the lodge adult selection committee. Adults must meet the same criteria as youth except the rank requirement.

After being elected or nominated, candidates may participate in a call-out ceremony that may be performed at summer camp, a camporee, a call-out weekend or at a troop or team meeting. Candidates then participate in a weekend-long Ordeal induction ceremony. The Ordeal is intended to emphasize service and self-sacrifice; candidates maintain complete silence, sleep alone overnight, receive small amounts of food and will perform camp work projects. Candidates will then be welcomed as Ordeal members in a formal induction ceremony.

Ordeal members may seal their membership and become full members after ten months by demonstrating their knowledge of the traditions and obligations of the OA. They then participate in an induction ceremony and become Brotherhood members.

The Vigil Honor may be conferred upon Arrowmen who have completed a minimum of two years as a Brotherhood member and perform exceptional service above through leadership, exemplary efforts, or dedication. Selection is annual and is limited to one person for every 50 members of the lodge

Lodge History

Aal-Pa-Tah Lodge was founded in 1942. "Aal-Pa-Tah" is from the Seminole language, meaning "Alligator". Our lodge consists of 9 chapters presently, from the northern border of Indian River County to the southern border of Palm Beach County, and west through Okeechobee and Osceola Counties. When our lodge was founded there were only 2 or 3 chapters, which consisted of the area immediately north and within Palm Beach County. Our council camps are Camp Oklawaha in Sebastian and Camp Tanah-Keeta in Tequesta. We have hosted 7 Area/Section Conferences over the years, those being in 1953, 1962, 1972, 1981, 1988, 1997, 2004, and will host again in 2012. We have also hosted one Section Seminars in 2000, with another coming in 2008.

Our lodge publications has a long history, dating back to when it was called "The Tipi" from the 50s all the way to the late 90s, and then became "The Gator Tales". We did have a dark period, though, when our lodge was closed down for about a year in the late Seventies, but since then we have rebounded. Throughout our history, Aal-Pa-Tah has produced more than 10 outstanding youth who have gone on to serve as our Area or Section Chief, and many of them have served as a NOAC Vice-Chief. In 1986, Kelly Landers became the first, and so far only, person from Aal-Pa-Tah Lodge to receive the Distinguished Service Award, the highest OA award there is. He had also been the first, and so far only, youth to serve as a Section Chief for 2 years, and was also the first youth recipient of the Founders' Award. The last person to have served as a Section Chief and also NOAC Vice-Chief was Travis Sheehan in 2005-6. Presently, we have had 29 Arrowmen receive the Founders' Award, 5 recipients of the James E. West Fellowship, and over 237 have received the Vigil Honor.

Our lodge is the most decorated when it comes to Native American Dancing award winners, for both Section Conference and NOAC, and elsewhere, as it has long been a tradition with us. "The Hitchiti Dancers" are known throughout the nation as some of the best dancers there are around, and have been for over 30 years. Aal-Pa-Tah has won the coveted Section Conference "Spirit Award" almost more times than any other lodge. We have also been known for our ceremonies, even performing them early on for other Lodges in the Section, and over the past few years, have won most of the ceremonies competitions' awards at Section Conferences. Overall, Aal-Pa-Tah is known as "The Party Lodge", since we all just have a great time anytime we get together.