Dominion Energy Plaza and the Ideal Scout

Have you seen the new Dominion Energy Plaza at the Heart of Virginia Council (HOVC) Leadership Center? Our new plaza features a bronze replica of “The Ideal Scout,” a very famous statue sculpted by R. Tait McKenzie.

“McKenzie sat on the executive board of the Boy Scouts organization in Philadelphia for more than 20 years. Asked to produce a figure of “an ideal scout,” the sculptor chose several young scouts to model in uniform. In 1915, he gave the executive board an 18-inch bronze figure, together with rights to the royalties resulting from sales of copies. He said that the boy’s uncovered head denoted reverence, obedience to authority, and discipline. The hatchet held by the scout is a symbol of truthfulness and the hope it would never be unsheathed for wanton destruction, but ‘applied unceasingly to the neck of treachery, treason, cowardice, discourtesy, dishonesty, and dirt.’”

The original statue stood outside the Cradle of Liberty Council in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, until 2013. Replicas can be found at Council’s across the country, now including ours! A replica can also be found at the graveside of William D. Boyce, the founder of the Boy Scouts of America, and in Gilwell Park in London, England.

Below is the first photo taken with our replica of two of our own Ideal Scouts, Wyn and James Bedall! Come visit us at 8090 Villa Park Drive in Henrico, take a selfie, and send it to us via email at rebekah.nyalko@scouting.org to be included in our slideshow.

Learn more about “The Ideal Scout” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ideal_Scout