This is the type of deal that deserves a standing ovation. When the Western Massachusetts Council of the Boy Scouts of America agreed last month to sell its expansive 186-acre Chesterfield Scout Reservation off Sugar Hill Road and Route 143 to a regional role-playing group, it accomplished many goals.
Not only does the deal ensure that property retains its natural state and beauty, but it also goes a long way to securing the viability of a Scout organization that serves some 6,000 boys and girls in Hampshire, Franklin, Berkshire and Hampden counties.
The $1 million sale to Tolgy Wood LLC also ensures that the property will continue to be a place where happy memories are made, just as it has been since the 1930s for Boy Scouts learning survival skills, camping, fishing and otherwise having fun with their peers.
That’s because Tolgy has agreed to lease the camp for the next 26 years to its sister company, Massachusetts Renaissance Faire LLC, which will use the property to host live action role-playing games. Both companies are owned by the same group of people.
The use of the camp, now called Tolgy Wood: Chesterfield Camp, for role-playing is not new, as Renaissance Faire has rented space in Chesterfield from the Boy Scouts for 15 years for its once-a-month events that typically draw between 60 and 130 people. It’s this familiarity that makes the sale a smart one for both sides.
Though negotiations were up and down over the last four years, with other suitors in the mix, the Boy Scouts struck a deal with the knowledge that the camp will remain in the hands of a group that values the property.
For the live-action, role-playing group, the sale provides the stability of a permanent home, one that it can rent to many of the dozens of similar groups in the New England region. It also gives the organization space to store its ever-expanding equipment without having to haul it in and out every month.
Tolgy also plans on expanding the site’s use to include weddings and other events, including renting it to the Scouts. Those are smart ways to generate revenue and boost the number of visitors to this beautiful piece of land that includes a pond and waterfall. Other features include an outdoor amphitheater, a large dining hall, eight cabins with electricity, Adirondack shelters, and a large, modern kitchen.
And here’s a cool twist — most of the people taking over the camp are either Eagle Scouts or had past involvement in Scouting themselves.
There are other, more practical advantages in the camp changing hands. The land won’t be developed, and it will now generate property taxes for the town of Chesterfield as Tolgy does not have the same tax-exempt status as the Boy Scouts.
For the Boy Scouts, the sale will provide a much-needed boon to the council’s coffers. Not only did leaders agree to use the proceeds to pay off debt and to reinvest in maintenance and other upgrades for its much larger 1,300-acre Horace A. Moses Scout Reservation in Russell, but they also hope to use some of the money to fund an endowment for camp maintenance. The deal also enables the council to shed property that it hasn’t used for Scouting camps since 2011, having moved those operations to the reservation in Russell.
For those reasons, we commend all those involved with the Boy Scouts and Tolgy Wood for striking a significant deal in this small Hilltown, and we wish both groups success in the future.