Treasure Island Ceremonial Grounds

George Chapman shared in his writings the following:

“Shortly after camp opened, Urner Goodman had explored Treasure Island in order to select the most appropriate place for the location of the Council Fire. He selected a site in the south woods of the island, far removed from the ordinary activities of the camp, and Edson agreed with him that it would be an ideal spot.

It was considerably off the beaten path on even a small 50-acre island and because of its location was an excellent site. How well Urner Goodman selected the site may be judged from the fact that the location of the Treasure Island Council Fire has never been changed.

The site chosen was a natural amphitheatre formed by a ravine in dense woods. For some natural reason there was a clearing here with sloping ground on one side which was to serve as a seating place for the spectators.

On the afternoon of the first induction Urner Goodman and Harry A. Yoder, by means of almost superhuman effort, were able to get the selected site cleared of brush, an altar built, and a path cut through the thick underbrush from the camp to the site.

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First Vigil Honor Ceremony

At end of the camping season in 1915, E. Urner Goodman held a vigil on the Devil's Tea Table. There was no real ritual ceremony that accompanied his experience, just Goodman alone with his thoughts through a night that he often referred to as life changing for him.

Carroll A. Edson recalls the following as the events that happened at the end of the Camping Season in 1916:

By the summer of 1916 a basic organization had been set up, and essentially the present First Honor, a First Degree, as we then called it, ritual developed, and the lodge functioned actively at camp.

At the end of that season, there was a universal feeling among the members that Urner’s leadership had been so splendid that they should do something to raise him above the rest.

I was running a Sea Scout camp that summer, but at the end of the season ran up to Treasure Island for a few days. A few of us got together, and planned out what is now the Vigil Honor, but which was then called “Second Degree”. We developed the essentials of the present ordeal and ritual, and put Urner through it.

There is not a consensus among Wimachtendienk historians on whether or not the above quote is accurate and whether or not Goodman kept a second vigil. No ceremony existed for the Second Degree prior to 1916. Whether or not Goodman went through a Second Degree ceremony as defined by the 1916 Constitution of the Wimachtendienk and whom the identities of any ceremonialists were is unknown. If Goodman was not the first Arrowman to go through the actual ceremony for the Second Degree (Vigil) – because he had already kept his vigil prior to the ceremony being written, then Carroll Edson was the first to receive the full ritual in 1917.

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WWW Founded

Goodman and Edson had explained their plans for the establishment of a camp honor society to camp leaders at Treasure Island.

The date of the first induction had been set, July 16, 1915. Two of the Troops on the island had held an election of members.  George Chapman described the event in The Arrow and the Vigil as follows:

Friday, July 16, 1915, dawned bright and fair. In addition to the heavy heat, which often hangs in the valley of the Delaware, there was something else in the air. It was an almost indescribable feeling of expectancy and mystery. Only a very few of those on the island had been taken into the confidence of Goodman and Edson and this was done only to have sufficient personnel to carry out the planned program. So while everyone on the island was aware that Friday night was the big night, few knew exactly what was to take place and all waited with interest and an enthusiasm which was difficult to control.

The day wore on slowly. Ordinary camp activities provided little interest and the camp chores and duties were carried out with a total lack of enthusiasm. By sundown the air was charged with a tense excitement. Something that was to be a vital factor in the lives of uncounted thousands of boys and men was about to be started. The importance of this undertaking was unconsciously exerting a strange influence on those that were present.

The first members were inducted in a manner somewhat differently from the way in which the Ordeal is conducted today. All of the campers, obviously non-members, were witnesses to the induction. As darkness fell, Harry Yoder, who acted as first guide, lined up the campers in single file. In dead silence the campers followed the guide by a circuitous route to the Council Fire.

The path led under a fallen tree and the Council Fire was so located that as the boys approached the fire they had no knowledge of it until they passed under the tree and the Council Fire was suddenly revealed.

At the first induction, and on subsequent inductions during the first year of Wimachtendienk, Urner Goodman served as Chief of the Fire and Carroll Edson served as Vice Chief of the Fire. Both were dressed in black robes, similar to an academic robe, which had been made by Mrs. Cooper, the wife of a neighboring farmer. The Chief wore on his robe the totem of the Unami Clan of the Lenni Lenape Indians, a turtle, superimposed on a triangle, which denoted leadership. The Vice Chief of the Fire wore on his robe a turtle without the triangle.

The first candidates to be inducted into the organization were Robert Craig and Gilpin Allen. Goodman and Edson had no formal induction into the Order as it was felt that this was not necessary.

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