Last updated on February 10, 2022
By Cody Griffin-Roach
Volunteer State Community College Professor Grady Eades will be doing a book signing for his first book, “For the Good of the Program: A Century of Middle Tennessee Scouting at Boxwell 1921-2021,” on Feb. 22, starting at 6 p.m., in the Thigpen Library. This event will be free to the public, with refreshments to be served.
The Boxwell Reservation is located in Wilson County off of Hwy. 109S and is the fourth boy scout camp to hold that name, Eades said.
The reservation holds a special place in Eades’ heart as he spent copious amounts of time there in his earlier youth.
“I actually worked at the camp out on Old Hickory Lake in the 90’s,” said Eades, “While I was out there, I got familiar with many of the people who had been there longer and some of the older history there and realized there was this whole wealth of information that went back much further than myself or any other individual.”
Eades said that he believes the history discovered while compiling research for his book tells an interesting story about, not only scouting, but the evolution of society as well.
“As society has changed so too has scouting and we see that through the summer camp programs they are offering at these locations,” said Eades, “Sometimes we look at institutions that have been around for a long time like scouting, marriage, church or more formal organizations and see them as these monolithic things that never change over time and that’s completely not true.”
“Part of my job as a historian is to understand that things do change over time and to understand how that change occurs and why that change occurs. In that sense I believe this is a neat little part of local history because we get to see that transformation occurring and I think it helps us understand who we are and our place a little bit better,” he said.
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