Santee Arrowheads

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Santee Arrowheads

October 24, 2009

The lodge has issued other memorabilia besides the lodge flaps that members wear. Among these other forms of memorabilia are arrowheads, back-patches, delegation patches, anniversary patches, neckerchiefs, and Dixie patches. With few exceptions all of these patches contain the parakeet, lodge colors, and “WWW”.

Santee Lodge Arrowhead Shaped Patches
A1 – Felt Arrowhead	The first lodge emblem did not come out until 1955. This patch is in the shape of an arrowhead and is commonly called the “arrowhead”. Prior to this time members only had their white sashes and dangle pin to distinguish them as brothers in the order of the arrow. The “arrowhead” was ordered to have a lodge emblem to wear while hosting the 1955 Dixie Fellowship at Camp Coker. This event was a meeting of all the lodges in the surrounding areas where special competitions and events would occur. Ed Fowler, who was the professional in charge of the lodge at the time, helped with the design and ordered the patches. It featured a parakeet from Audubon’s painting sitting on a red arrow with word “Santee” across the bottom. The arrowhead was made of black felt with embroidery. The patches were sold for 50 cents and worn on the right breast pocket.
A2 – 35th Anniversary	The second lodge arrowhead falls under the “if it looks like a duck” rule of patches. For a couple of years the lodge had issued fellowship neckerchiefs for events. However, the neckerchiefs ran out at the 1973 Summer Fellowship and many of the brothers wanted to have fellowship patches instead of neckerchiefs. Members of the executive committee approved a design for a patch for the 1973 Fall Fellowship. However, the design did not include the word “fellowship”. Since it says “35th anniversary” the collecting community has always viewed this patch as a lodge issue for the 35th anniversary of the lodge instead of a fellowship patch. So “if it looks like a duck” it is a duck or in this case the A2.
A3 – 50th Anniversary	The lodge celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1988. To commemorate this event the lodge produced a replica of the original arrowhead from 1955. The “50th Arrowhead” is identical except it has the inscription “1938-88” to mark it as an anniversary patch. It also has a red loop which the original arrowhead did not have. The lodge made 700 of these and the patch was designed by Jason Collins and Phil Whittle. The patches were sold 3 per person at the 1988 Summer Fellowship.
A4 – Service Arrowhead	In 1993 the lodge executive committee came up with a program to promote attendance at the lodge workday and chapters to sponsor their own service projects. The program stated that if an Arrowmen gave 6 hours of service at Camp Coker they would be entitled to purchase a special 55th anniversary arrowhead patch. However, cheerful service performed during the lodge’s regularly scheduled fellowships did not count. Most of the chapters did hold chapter workdays at Coker and 230 of the special “Service Arrowheads” were earned. This arrowhead patch was designed by Andrew Myers.
A5 – 60th Anniversary	Along with creating a new jacket patch and lodge t-shirt the 60th anniversary of the lodge in 1998 also saw a new felt arrowhead. The new arrowhead was first available at Winter Banquet in January of 1998. At first the patches were sold on a limited basis. However, later they were put on open sale. The price of the patches went up and down according to who was behind the window of the lodge store. One fellowship they were sold for $2 while later the price was raised to $4. The patches sold out at the 1998 Fall Fellowship.