“A little over a hundred years ago it was placed there to honor the over 100 people who gave their lives in World War I who were from Montgomery County, and there’s an oak tree planted for each one of them,” he said.
At least twice a year, the scouts ages 11 to 17 plus their leaders and other volunteers beautify the grove of 180 oak trees planted in 1921 by raking leaves, adding mulch, planting flowers and performing other work such as placing small American flags for Memorial Day. Eagle Scout community service projects have included the brick pathway, benches and a sign that tells the history of the knoll as well as a trail on the hillside that is underway.
“It’s a great civic and patriotic thing for the scouts to pursue,” Cunningham said. “And for us adults taking care of that, it’s something that we feel very fortunate to have the privilege of doing that and it’s something that we look forward to continuing.”
The troop established a GoFundMe online fundraiser to rent costly equipment to remove invasive honeysuckle.
“At one point there was six acres of honeysuckle that was six to eight feet high in some places,” said Cunningham, who added it’s an ongoing project for the volunteers to keep the honeysuckle in check that has returned across the knoll.
Now, the scouts have expanded the fundraiser to include work on the entrance. The masonry was damaged during a storm last fall when a large limb fell from one of the massive oak trees.
“The tree limb itself was the size of a tree” at nearly two feet in diameter, Cunningham said. “It fell and it landed straight across both sides of the entrance and knocked out a large part of the masonry.”
The quotes to repair the masonry came in around $6,000, and it costs somewhere between $500 and $1,000 a year to rent the equipment to take care of the honeysuckle. The scouts also plan to replace a damaged chain link fence with a split rail fence. The fencing material will cost an estimated $1,000, and the troop plans to install it themselves, Cunningham said.
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