The Boy Scouts of America wants to move its signature event, the national jamboree, across the state of Virginia.
The organization said it is moving the event from its longtime home at the Fort A.P. Hill military reservation in Caroline County to the Rockbridge County community of Goshen, adjacent to the George Washington National Forest.
The organization said Goshen would be the site of a new National Scouting Center, a multi-use facility that would house the jamboree, a high-adventure base and expanded opportunities for leadership and outdoor skills training.
The organization, which did not specify an exact site in Rockbridge for the facility, referred all questions to spokeswoman Nicole Slater, who did not immediately respond to telephone messages today.
Rockbridge County Administrator Claire Collins also could not be immediately reached for comment.
The scouts already have a facility in Rockbridge, the Goshen Scout Reservation. Situated on more than 4,000 acres, the Goshen facility is the National Capital Area Council’s resident summer reservation and includes six camps on the shores of Lake Merriweather.
The scouts issued a release last night saying Goshen was chosen for the new center over Saline County, Ark.
"In its entirety, the center will offer a new American landmark — a multipurpose, year-round destination for Scouting activities that will become the epicenter for the best that Scouting has to offer," Jack D. Furst, who oversaw the selection process, said in a news release issued by the organization.
The same release quoted Patrick O. Gottschalk, Virginia secretary of commerce and trade, as saying the state was "committed to this process and know that we have a tremendous amount to offer in the long term to this time-honored celebration and the organizational goals of the Boy Scouts."
The jamboree has been held at the 76,000-acre Fort A.P. Hill Army base near Bowling Green every four years since 1981. The event is scheduled there again in 2010 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.
The jamborees routinely attract about 40,000 Scouts and their leaders, along with hundreds of thousands of visitors.
The organization’s release said the group selected Rockbridge County in part because of its natural beauty, the size of available land and its proximity to nearby Interstates 81 and 64 as well as commercial airports.
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