Cynthia Griffiths

Goshen Scout Reservation staff members, fellow NCAC co-workers, Scout friends, and family are celebrating a very special summer to honor Francis “Drac” Peyton for his 50 years of service on the Reservation!

Known as the most beloved staff member of Goshen, Drac first came to the shores of Lake Merriweather as a young Scout in 1968 with Troop 2508, chartered by Mt. Airy Baptist Church in NW Washington D.C. Scouts led him to his very first visit to Camp Ross where he enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow Scouts and the energy and enthusiasm of his camp counselors. He was a camper each summer until 1975 when at the age of 17 he became a Camp Ross Counselor. Over his long history of employment, he worked in every camp at multiple positions to include Shooting Sports Director (now known as Range and Target Activities), Program Director, Camp Director, and current Assistant Reservation Director.

He works from sunup to sundown every day circling the camp. Week in and week out he maintains his jovial demeanor and infectious smile. He is rich in knowledge and history of the Reservation, knows what keeps the campers happy, where improvement is needed, and how to get things done. He has the pulse of the reservation at any time. He is a joy to speak with if you can just get him to sit down. By mid-morning on a typical camp day, he will have already circled the Goshen Beltway three times delivering, fixing, managing, and boosting staff morale for the day.

During the 2025 Goshen Staff Banquet, Drac received a special award for his 50 years at camp. As he addressed the staff, Drac stood with intention and said, “When you leave here today and wake up tomorrow morning, have that energy, have that focus, have that drive. People are waiting on us to perform. Everybody got that?” He was met with a resounding “Yeah!” with claps and cheers from all corners of the Camp Olmsted Dining Hall.

Drac added, “Thank you for bringing me on your team” when actually the entire National Capital Area Council needed to be thanking him for his 50 years of service at Goshen Scout Reservation!

When thinking back to when he first stepped foot on the Reservation, Drac recalled, “My first experience at Goshen was at Camp Ross in 1968. I started in Cub Scouts and went all the way through. I am one of seven kids, four brothers and two sisters. All of my brothers participated in Scouts. One of my brothers achieved the rank of Eagle. The rest of us finished as Life. I finished Life with 80 earned Merit Badges. All of us went to Goshen in the early days. I absolutely loved being a Scout. It was my thing and I enjoyed doing it with my brothers.”

When asked about what camp was like in the early days, he replied, “So things were a lot different, especially for African American troops that came to Goshen back in those days. I remember as a young Scout, we came to camp and were hanging out in the parking lot at Camp Ross, trying to figure out where we’re gonna go, because the white Troops didn’t want to share a campsite with a black Troop. So, we finally get a placement with another troop from Bethesda, close to D.C. They welcomed us with open arms and shared their camp. We were a small unit of 10 boys. And of course, that all worked out. It was so fabulous. And then the following summer, we’d run into the same troop the same week. We developed a lasting friendship through Scouting. Because at that time, with many, the mind was kind of closed. These guys being up from the D.C. area had a lot of open mindedness, a lot of love, a lot of caring for us as a unit.”

“Camp definitely got into my blood because all I wanted to do when I was a young kid was go camping. That’s all I wanted. Everybody that I knew growing up, every other five people that you met back in those days, in the ’70s, 80s, were Scouts. Even in inner city growing up we had so many Black troops. So many came to camp. So many. Because Scouting was the game. And we had a lot of support from our churches.”

As a camper, he had no idea that staff could be hired but then the first opportunity came. The camp directors said, “Hey, we do staff interviews up in DC. So, I threw my name out there, got a phone call, and the rest is history. I started working on staff in 1975.”

Even though things were different back then, Drac found a tight-knit community on staff, “The experience here at Goshen, especially with the brotherhood that I had with the staff really paid off. As a result, this is what you see now! And you see that all over the Reservation. It’s not just me but others. You saw that at the camp staff banquet this year when you saw these people walk in. You saw people tearing up because, again, that passion. We all want to be here because we want to be here. The banquet was special because I’ve never seen it so emotional, if you know what I mean, because it really meant something to everybody in that room.”

“Of course, along the lines, you meet people. One of the guys that was sitting at my table at the banquet actually was one of my mentors from the old days. He’s one of the guys that I credit for showing me, helping me, nurturing me to push me to get me where I am now.”

“It’s the brotherhood. It is. When you meet somebody at camp, you know, and we see this all the way around, you know those people for a lifetime.”

“You have lifelong friends in Scouting. If any organization can say it does that, we do that. It all pans out to be what it is and we all appreciate that especially the young people at the banquet. It meant so much to them and that’s a proud moment. It’s like a million-dollar view that you never see. You feel that right here, right here in your heart.”

When asked for his personal motto at camp that he takes with him, Drac replied, “I would say, keep it moving. Stay positive. Reach out to the people around you because you are no better than the people around you. If you don’t have a good team of people to push you forward, you gonna have a hard time reaching that goal because your team is the one that makes the difference. So as a leader, you train your people properly. What happens after that? All the sudden, you trust the people behind you. With that comes personal growth, energy, positive thinking. Because we as leaders know, you can’t do it by yourself. It takes all of us, especially on the leadership side, to do what we need to do.”

He instills these beliefs not only at the Reservation, but also with his family, “My young grandkids, I try to instill in them the purpose of service and how important that is.”

“I’m very thankful that Elisabeth Warren (Goshen Scout Reservation Director) allows me to do what I do to support. That’s pretty much the bottom line. And, I’m still having a good time! I’m still having fun! You know, because we forget in this hard business that we do that you got to find that joy. You got to. If not, this place ain’t for you. Because here at camp, we have to share. We have to care about each other. That’s what Scouting does more than anything else because outside of our organization people are not used to sharing anymore. You know what I mean and you get that and all of a sudden you see these young people behind us. That’s a game changer for them because they figure, ‘I like being a part of this team. I like being part of this game.’ What does this game do? It makes us better. It makes us better human beings. Collectively, individually, anyway that you want to put that. It works.”

When asked what we need to do to keep this going for another 115 years, he replied, “We need to simplify what we do. Keep the basics. Keep the values.”

After considering how much longer we could get him to work at the Reservation, Drac answered, “That’s a good question. I don’t know. I would say that I am honored and blessed that I had the opportunity to do pretty much what I wanted to do all my life. And a lot of people don’t get that opportunity to do what they want. And camp has done that. You know, for some reason, I find that niche that brings me back every year. You know what I mean? It’s a niche. I tell people, it’s a niche.”

This article is written from two interviews with Drac. One by Dan Glass and the other by Cynthia Griffiths/Matthew Keck during the summer of 2025 at Goshen Scout Reservation.