By Dave Dyer

Staff Writer

   Boy Scouts of all ages are invited to the rededication of Camp Scarborough Friday, Sept. 26. The ceremony will take place at Trademark Circle, off the Broadturn Road and is slated to include the opening of the Robert Foley Trail, which is a new access road to the camp. Start time for the event will be 5:30 p.m.

   Bob Dougherty, president of Camp Scarborough Board of Directors, said the road is being named after Foley, a Camp Scarborough president of 30 years. Dougherty said Foley will open the ceremony as well as present a brief history of Camp Scarborough.

 Camp Director John Thurlow said the camp has been a part of the town for 50 years. 

 “It started with a group of men in a Scouting troop in the 1950s looking for a camp area,” Thurlow said. “They were able to gather $500 to buy the 25 acres of land where the camp resides.”

  Thurlow said before the new access road was built, the camp  had been vandalized, and was inaccessible from main Scarborough roads, making it impossible to repair the shelters and bridge that had been damaged. Thurlow said there was a cabin built at the camp in the early years, but it was eventually destroyed by vandals, as were shelters built during Foley’s tenure as president. The 30-year-old footbridge originally built by prisoners from the Cumberland County Jail was also destroyed.

 Thurlow said for the past five years Camp Scarborough Board of Directors has been working with town administration and town councilors to find land to build the access road. He said the solution came when a local developer approached the town with a proposed land exchange that gave Camp Scarborough the land needed to build the Foley Trail to access the camp.

 “The road is closer to homes, so hopefully more eyes will be on the camp,” Thurlow said, referring to vandalism. “One of the advantages now is we have electrical access in the camp now, and we hope with the repairs we can now attract some of the younger Scouts, Tiger Cubs through Boy Scouts, to the camp.”

 Through the help of volunteers, cleaning and repairs have been made to the camp and some of the shelters. Thurlow said there have already been suggestions for replacing some of the shelters that were destroyed. 

  “There has been talk of replacing the Adirondack shelters with tent platforms,” Thurlow said. “We would like to keep it in its natural state, so kids can learn orienteering, wood craft, and camp management.”

 Dougherty said Camp Scarborough is only available to youth of the town.

   “It’s available to the youth of Scarborough, and for Scouting,” said Dougherty. “But it’s not for public use.”

  Dougherty and Thurlow both said they hope the rededication ceremony will reunite former Scouts who enjoyed the camp years ago, along with current and future Scouts who will get to enjoy the new amenities of Camp Scarborough for years to come.

  “It’s a town treasure,” Thurlow said.