Talidandaganu' #293 Lodge History

Talidandaganu' Lodge, as it is known today, was chartered in February 1957, but it was preceded by both another OA lodge and a local honor campers society. Five councils in Tennessee, including ours, formed the honor campers society known as "The Tribe of Chickamauga" around 1926. Then in 1939 the council, known as Chattanooga Area Council, began inquires about forming an Order of the Arrow lodge. The council's application for a charter, possibly delayed by World War II, was approved on May 1, 1945.

The first lodge was named Chickamauga, which means "river of death," and was taken from the band of renegade Cherokee Indians by that name, led by Chief Dragging Canoe. The totem for this lodge was a beaver. Chickamauga Lodge was basically inactive and disbanded in 1947.

In the fall of 1956, new interest in the Order of the Arrow caused local scouts to petition the National Council in New Jersey for another OA charter. The name "Tali-danda-ganu’" was proposed with an eagle in flight as the totem.  In Cherokee, Tali-danda-ganu’ means "two looking at each other," referring to Lookout Mountain and Signal Mountain, which face each other, This application was approved on February 4, 1957. Scout Ron Stulce then sent a letter on February 18, 1957, to all Scouts in the council who met the requirements for membership, asking them to contact the council office if they were interested. On June 28-29, 1957, twenty charter members of Talidandaganu' Lodge were inducted at Camp Cherokee in an ordeal ceremony performed by members of Pellissippi Lodge 230 from Knoxville.

The first Brotherhood ceremony was held in July of 1958, performed again by a team from Pellissippi Lodge of the Great Smoky Mountains Council. Eleven Talidandaganu' members were inducted into the brotherhood at that time. In 1963, the lodge's first Vigil Honor ceremony was held to present Tommy Chamberlain and Ron Stulce with the Vigil Honor. Later that same year, the Vigil was presented to James T. Pierce.

Our lodge members conducted the second Ordeal ceremony at Camp Cherokee on November 8-9, 1957 with nine new members being inducted. Then on July 18-19, 1958, another 25 new members were inducted during the lodge's third Ordeal ceremony. The second Brotherhood ceremony on October 11, 1958 saw eight members sealing their membership in the order. The fourth Ordeal ceremony inducted 35 new members and the fifth, held in September 1960 at Camp Tsatanugi, added another nineteen. At the Spring Ordeal in June of 1989, our lodge inducted its first female member, Jo Ann McKinney. At the Fall Ordeal in October 1995, she became the first female member of our lodge to be awarded the Vigil Honor.

Talidandaganu' Lodge has had active dance and ceremonial teams at various times throughout the years. At the Area V-D conclave in 1972 at Boxwell Scout Reservation, Middle Tennessee Council, a newly formed Talidandaganu' Lodge dance team performed the Hopi Snake Dance using live snakes. It was a very impressive presentation and created quite a stir. The judges were set to award our team first place when it was pointed out that the snake dance is a religious ceremony and therefore not allowed for competition.

In 1988 the lodge ceremonial team competed at the National Order of the Arrow Conference  in Colorado.  The team received the award for fourth place overall in the nation. The team consisted of Teddy Shelton as Allowat Sakima (2nd place individually), Brad Pope as Meteu (3rd place individually), Billy Durkin as Kichkinet (1st place individually) and Brian Glover as Nutiket.

In 2007 the Lodge celebrated its 50^th Anniversary with a reunion held at Chester Frost Park.  Members from every decade, including three charter members, were in attendance.  The keynote address was given by the National Vice-Chief.

2010 welcomed the 100th Anniversary of Scouting in Chattanooga.

Charter Members

*These were members of the council professional staff.

Founder's Award

Distinguished Service Award

* Relocated prior to recognition

Lodge Chiefs

*Phil Ledbetter served as interim chief after Dave Leitner left for college. 

Lodge Advisors

1	1957-	Victor Harris		10	1984-1989	Frank Robinson
2		Frank Vensent		11	1989	Lowell Bennington
3	- 1970	Mike Williams		12	1989-1993	Tom Miller
4	1971 - 1973	Bill Godsey		13	1993-1995	Bob Crawford
5	1973 - 1975	Paul Rouse		14	1995-1996	Les Hall
6	1975	Griff Martin*		15	1997-2004	Ray LeCroix
7	1975-	Bill Sisk*		16	2004-2007	Mary Richardson
8	- 1980	Bill Sherman		17	2008-	Tim Steadman
9	1980-1983	Richard Holmes

* Co-Advisors

Service Beyond the Lodge

Dave Worland	Section Chief SE-IIA 1976; Region Chief, Southeast Region 1976
Bill Ketron*	Section Advisor; Southeast Region OA Chairman 1970’s
Alan Cooper*	Section Chief; Southeast Region Chief 1981-1983
Teddy Shelton	SE-6 Section Chief; Region Chief, Southeast Region 1990
Kevin Martin	SR-6 Section Chief 1993
John (JT) Thomas	SR-6S Section Chief 2003-2004

*Term served while a member of another lodge

Conclaves Hosted

Year	Area/Section	Site
1965	V-D	Patton Hotel with events on Lookout Mountain
1973	SE-IIA	Camp Cherokee
1979	SE-IIA	Skymont
1985	SE-6	Skymont
1993	SR-6	Skymont
2002	SR-6S	Skymont

 

Other Talidandaganu' Lodge History Pages

Patch Gallery

Lodge Charters

Vigil Spreadsheet