On January 7, 2023, immediately prior to the Winter Banquet in Sumter, SC, youth members of Muscogee Lodge 221 and Santee Lodge 116 gathered for an historic Business Meeting. A few months earlier, on August 1, 2022, the Pee Dee Area Council 552 had merged with the Indian Waters Council 553 to form a new, larger Indian Waters Council 553, stretching from the midlands to the coast. National rules prohibit one council from having more than one Order of the Arrow Lodge, so at this January 7 meeting, the voting youth of both legacy lodges voted to accept a merger package that had been developed over the course of several months and many meetings by the merger committee. Exiting the meeting, and embracing the mantra “Better Together” the former two lodges were now one new lodge, Muscogee Lodge 116 and had elected a group of new officers who were sworn in later that evening at the banquet.
Below are the lodge flaps issued by Muscogee Lodge 116, with select details and facts about each.