The great chains, kept for a century.
For generations, keepers of the ash tradition wrote down every fire their ashes touched — page after page, decade after decade. These are their lists, preserved as they kept them: fire by fire, from Brownsea Island to the Moon and back.
The 'Bongo' List (Transatlantic Council)
A structured year-by-year record of the Iowa–Holder ash chain as kept by the Transatlantic Council's 'Bongo' Wood Badge line — 153 fires carried from Brownsea Island in 1907 across Europe, the Americas and Asia to 2004.
1907 England Brownsea Island Camp Brownsea Island
Pack 396 (Parker, CO) — the Apollo 15 chain
Pack 396's milestone record of the ash line that flew to the Moon: 46 fires from Brownsea Island in 1907, through the Apollo 15 lunar mission of 1971, and on to Parker, Colorado in 2023.
1971 Moon — 26 Jul–15 Aug, Apollo 15; David Scott, James Irwin, Al Worden carried a small vial during a moon walk (Hadley Rille)
The Campfire Ashes Archive (Legacy Project)
A community archive of 47 geocoded ash ceremonies from Troop 407 and the Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council, California — every fire logged with a date and a map point, 2006 to 2023.
Outdoor Leader Skills Training Session, Camp Chesebrough SR, Santa Clara County Council, San Jose, CA (Jun. 2)
Each list is reproduced as its keeper published it, with credit. Keep one of these chains going? We'd love to hear from you — get in touch.