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Hammer Crew
The Nobscot Hammer Crew (NHC) is Strong and Growing
The NHC is involved with so many aspects of making Nobscot better ranging from regular maintenance to revitalization of facilities, trail work and tree removal keeping Scouts safe. With 25 active members and 15-18 showing up on any given Tuesday, you can just imagine the amount of work that gets done. We have volunteers that have long Scouting history as well as those just walking on the reservation and striking up a conversation with an NHC member. With an extremely diverse set of skills, this group can take on just about any project. The Nobscot Campmaster Corp helps define priorities with important maintenance and improvement items that make the Scouting experience better.
But, we like to have fun too. We all gather for a morning break with coffee and "breakfast desserts" and then again for lunch. Lunch is provided for the NHC once a month where we generally invite a Mayflower Council employee to see what we are up to. One longstanding NHC member calls it a brotherhood.
Join The Nobscot Hammer Crew
We meet at the Nobscot shop on Tuesdays at 8am and wrap up about 4pm. If you want to join us, just send an email to volunteer@nobscot-reservation.org or stop by on any Tuesday morning
Summer 2025 - after a typical NHC lunch break
Ongoing improvements to Nobscot
Ongoing improvements to Nobscot
If you have not been to Nobscot recently, you will notice ongoing substantial improvements made since 2019 by the Nobscot Hammer Crew and the Nobscot Alumni Association:
Invasive plants: On-going effort to remove, primarily Buckthorn, bittersweet, burning bush and knotweed.
All designated (named) campsites with cabins/lodges, lean-tos, or tenting have had:
Extensive clearing of excess underbrush.
Clearing of outdoor FireRings, FirePits, or free-standing chimneys for cooking and campfires.
Log seating around the FireRings or FirePits.
An abundant supply of nearby split and stacked firewood for units to use.
All cabins now have the necessary brooms, shovels, rakes, etc.
All cabins with fireplaces now have fireplace-inserts to provide better heating
Many cabins have been upgraded with:
new metal roofs
new windows
new interior pine board paneling
bunk ladders, bunk rails, new mattresses
new concrete steps and doorways
regrading of many cabin sites to better allow for tenting
exterior cabin staining
log-seating around outside FirePits/FireRings
new picnic tables
Structural: complete renovation/rebuild of Cabin 39
Structural: rotted sills, floor joists, floors, and siding issues remedied in several cabins, including Cabin 18, Cabin 21, PondView, Legion, Cabin 11, Assabet, Cabin 39.
All lean-to sites now have:
new lean-to roofs.
log-seating around outside FirePits/FireRings.
a picnic table.
a broom and a shovel.
Tenting sites have had extensive clearing of excess underbrush.
Squanto tentsite added.
All Tenting Sites now have:
a picnic table
log-seating around outside FirePits/FireRings
Additional “Undeveloped” Tenting sites are being added to provide more tenting capacity at the busiest times. Undeveloped Tenting Site: a tenting site with fewer services. A fire ring is provided, but no split firewood supplied, no picnic table, no log benches.
Haydenland, Ellisland, and Explorer Alley, expanded and reclaimed grassy areas by brushing back the overgrowth.
Poison Ivy controlled.
Privies
Privies
Toilet Paper and Hand Sanitizer are provided at all privies
Structural: complete rebuild of NHC Cabin 39 privy
All other privies have been freshened up and updated with interior paneling and new exterior stain.
Regular maintenance including occasional “pumping out”.
Most privies have new metal roofs.
Trees and Firewood
Trees and Firewood
Many hundreds of hazard trees have been taken down by volunteers with the Nobscot Hammer Crew and Team Rubicon.
Many hundreds of cords of wood have been cut, split, and seasoned for Scouting units to use.
A portable sawmill was used to turn trees into wood siding for re-siding buildings around Nobscot. Notably NHC Cabin 39, Highland (13) and soon to be Webelos Woods.
Abundant supplies of split and stacked firewood are provided for Scout units to use.
Water
Water
Water treatment system for Legion and Henderson installed
Water pumps have been repaired and are tested regularly
Rehab of well at Cabin 26
Well conversion at Mahoney's is planned to serve Haydenland.
Camp entrance, Trails and Parking lots
Camp entrance, Trails and Parking lots
The Nobscot front entrance area has been cleaned up and landscaped by NAA volunteers.
The Andersen Welcome Center has a new roof.
The two main parking lots and the causeway between the parking lots have been regraded.
Culverts under trails have been repaired and trail work has been done to help control erosion.
Main buildings
Main buildings
White Lodge bathroom and hall renovations
Henderson Lodge interior repairs and painting
Interior lighting upgrades
Shop improvements
Signs
Signs
New signs on Cabins, Lean-tos, and designated tenting sites are in progress.
New Trail signs are in progress.
Trails
Trails
Mayflower Council has financed extensive repairs and improvements performed on trails.
Regular Maintenance
Regular Maintenance
Latrine cleaning
Clipping brush along trails
Expanding tenting sites by cutting back on the invading brush
Spraying wet & forget on asphalt roofs
Grass mowing, removing invasive plants, spraying poison ivy
Cabin interior cleaning, carpet cleaning
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