Cranberry Ready to Dedicate Scouting Centennial Plaza

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new monument that will mark 100 years of Scouting in America will take place at 11 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 7 at Graham Park in Cranberry.

According to township officials, the Scouting plaza, which overlooks a new one-acre fishing pond at the park, is the nation’s only permanent monument to honor the centennial.

The plaza was the nonprofit Cranberry Township Community Chest's 2011 Community Project of the Year.  

Both the monument and plaza are open to the public. The venue also was designed as a place where Boy and Girl Scouts can meet, plan, and carry out community service activities, according to the township.

The three acres adjacent to the plaza will be reserved as an environmental area for both current and future Scouts, as well as local residents, to care for and to enjoy, the township said in a statement.

The fishing lake, which is scheduled to open for public use on or shortly after the plaza dedication, will be available for license-free catch-and-release fishing throughout the year. 

The architecture of the plaza, which includes a monument containing three graphic panels that illustrate the life cycle of Scouts, will also contain time capsules to be opened on the 125th, 150th, and 200th anniversaries of the plaza’s dedication.