**updated with larger memo image**
At the entrance to the Edith Macy Conference Center, a national Girl Scout property in Westchester County, New York, stands a fieldstone column topped by an old bell.
A plaque on the bell states that it is in honor of Carolyn and John Caughey.
Tradition says that the bell was relocated to Macy when Rockwood National Girl Scout Center was sold in 1981.
Ummm. No.
Carolyn Caughey and Rockwood
Carolyn Caughey was a Washington DC property developer, who greatly admired the Girl Scouts. Upon her death in 1936, she left her entire estate (valued then at $300,000) to the Girl Scouts of the USA.
Mrs. Caughey was a complicated woman, and her will was equally obtuse. Much of her estate was held in trust, but the Girl Scouts immediately received her country retreat–Rockwood Manor. The new camp comprised 67 acres* and was located about 15 miles from the US Capitol.
She imposed three conditions on future use of her beloved Rockwood.
The Plaque
First, she wanted a commemorative bronze plaque installed in the Manor House. She specified the text in her will:
That provision was completed in 1946. Originally it hung inside by a fireplace, then it was relocated just outside the front door, where it hangs today.
The Purpose
Second, Mrs. Caughey specified that Rockwood must be used for “character-building purposes,” one of the few phrases in her will that she did not define. I could write a book about efforts to interpret “character building”; but, wait I already did!
The Bell
Third, Mrs. Caughey wanted a memorial bell erected on the Rockwood grounds.
I request that from the funds then turned over, a bell tower be erected at Rockwood Manor to be enjoyed by those seeking sanctuary there.
That provision was forgotten until about 1968, when a GSUSA employee remembered something about receiving more money from the Caughey trust. Staff discovered the bell requirement when checking old files. (Half of her money was paid when her husband died in 1948, the balance 20 years later–1968.)
GSUSA was re-evaluating all of its property portfolio in the late 1960s. Architects drew up an elaborate plan for converting Rockwood from a camp into an efficient, profitable conference facility situated around a large belfry.
Unfortunately, a series of issues left the makeover financially impossible. Rockwood was sold to developers in 1978.
From Rockwood to Macy
A handful of Rockwood items were relocated to the newly expanded Edith Macy Conference Center. The Caughey bell idea resurfaced as Macy’s dedication ceremony approached. While the Caugheys never visited Macy, that is where their tribute was located. (Mr. Caughey never even visited Rockwood, but that’s another story.)
Did the bell come from Rockwood?
The bell standing at Macy today doesn’t resemble either of Rockwood’s emergency bells, which vandals repeatedly stole.
So if not Rockwood, where did the bell come from?
It looks amazingly like the original bell erected outside Macy’s Great Hall.
Could it be that the Girl Scouts thanked Mrs. Caughey with a used, broken bell?
Well, yes. That’s exactly what happened. Here is the memo:
Somehow, I don’t think Mrs. Caughey would be pleased. Of course, few things pleased Mrs. Caughey, including Mr. Caughey.
© 2024 Ann Robertson, writer, editor, Girl Scout historian
*Mrs. Caughey’s Rockwood was 67 acres. GSUSA purchased additional land over time, reaching 92 acres by 1978.
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