We are Boy Scout Troop 209, one of the oldest troops in Montgomery County, Maryland. Boy Scout Troop 209 is sponsored by Silver Spring United Methodist Church for the Boy Scouts of America. We are in the National Capital Area Council and are located in Silver Spring, Maryland. We are a boy-led troop, meaning that the Scouts make the important decisions, with guidance from the Scoutmaster and other troop leaders. We operate on the Patrol Method, meaning that the troop has multiple patrols of 6-8 Scouts each, and each one elects a patrol leader. The patrols cook their own food on campouts, and the patrol leaders report to the Senior Patrol Leader, who is the top Scout in the troop.
We meet every Thursday evening at 7:30 pm at:
Silver Spring United Methodist Church
8900 Georgia Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20910
The Districts in which we have been included are Unknown (1934- 1953), Montgomery (1953-1971), Secota (1971-1981), Seneca (1981-1991), Olde Mill (1991-2003), Rock Creek (2003-2008), Montgomery (2008-2012), and Potomac (2012 to present). The earliest records show that Troop 209 was in existence as early as 1918 which probably makes it the oldest Troop in our county. The first Scoutmaster of record was born in 1871. He must have had a vision in the fledgling Boy Scout organization.
At one time, the Troop had their own “Scout Hut” which was a separate building behind the church. According to Chad Leyson, a Troop 209 Scout in the Troop 1935-41, his “father Sgt. Webster Leyson, arranged for the moving of a WWI temporary building from Walter Reed to the rear of the parking lot” at the church which was then on the SW corner of Georgia Avenue and Spring Street. When the church moved to the present location, the “Scout Hut” was not moved. Special funds were collected for the Scouts for a new Scout Hut at the new church location. For some reason, the new Scout Hut never materialized; however, the money collected was applied to building a super Scout Room in the new church. Money left over from the new Scout Room building was used to purchase several canoes for the Troop.History indicates that in the late 1960s there were 50 Tenderfoot Scouts in the Troop at one time. Mr. Gerald Wilson, Scoutmaster 1966-68, indicated “all those young Scouts were a handful.” Mrs. Ray Stokeley (Felicia), while her husband was Scoutmaster in 1969, hiked on foot with the Troop the entire length of the 184.5-mile C & O Canal towpath. The Troop did this over many campouts.
Past activities have included high adventures such as hiking the C & O Canal both on foot and by bicycle; taking 50-mile canoe trips on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River in Virginia; traversing the Lenhok’ Sin Trail at our Council’s Goshen Scout Reservation; backpacking and canoeing in the Adirondacks in New York State; canoeing in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada; National Scout Jamborees; and kayaking. We have done caving; rappelling; rock climbing; Scouting on the Mall; camporees; walkathons for the homeless, Adopt-a-Highway, and helping at Shepherd’s Table. One high adventure took us to West Point Military Academy and to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Over the years, several Scouts and crews went to the Florida Sea Base in the Bahamas; Philmont Scout Reservation in Cimarron, NM; the Northern Tier (canoe base) in MN; a high adventure canoeing trip in Algonquin Park in Canada; Pine Creek Canyon (Grand Canyon of the East) in PA, Grand Tetons, and trips to Philadelphia and NYC.
Other activities include monthly campouts, weekly Troop Meetings, service projects, aid to citizens and the community, annual program planning, model rockets and cars, bicycle rodeos, Merit Badge Day, Scout expositions, high adventures, summer camp, hosting the Webelos Weekend, Courts of Honor, skiing trips, winter camping, Klondike Derby, and fund raising projects such as car washes and The Pumpkin Patch, and the like. We camp most every month of the year as the schedule permits.
Please visit our primary web page at www.troop-209.org.