From an email I got: *********************************************** "The rarely seen Masonic Cornerstone laying ceremony, for anyone that would like to witness this historical event. It is to be held on tomorrow Sunday, July 10th. A.D. 2011 Masonicaly A.L. 6011 at 3:00pm Masonic Cornerstone Laying at the First Presbyterian Church. The church is located on the corner of South 3rd Street and Church Street in Smithfield. N.C." GOT THIS INFO FROME BROTHER ROBY EVANS. SEE YA THIGIE *********************************************** I'm going in a few minutes! [Note to burglar: wife staying home...has .38, 9mm, .45ACP, and 12 gauge] How often are you able to do Masonic Cornerstone Layings?? This is a good way to be seen in public. S&F
Just got back from the Cornerstone Laying at the First Presbyterian Church in Smithfield, NC, by Past Grand Master Gene Jernigan and the local Masonic Lodge. I had only read the ceremony in North Carolina Masonic Ceremonies, never saw it done before. It was a nice cooperative effort between the community, the church and the lodge. It was 93F when I got back in the car. S&F
Plenty of warm, not much snuggly! It was a great ceremony. PGM Jernigan was at one of our National Sojourner meetings ~5 years ago when I was learning the Entered Apprentice Degree Lecture. He asked what I was working on, I replied, I had just memorized Brotherly Lodge and Relief. I would next work on Truth. He instantly launched into "Truth is a divine attribute and the foundation of every virtue..." [he finished it.] Impressive guy! S&F
That's great you got to see a cornerstone laying. Not a lot of non-Masonic places are asking for our services these days. And it's nice it was a church to boot. Too bad we lost our place as the clerics of the new world. There might be a lot more Masonic cornerstones!
I and about 150 other Masons got the chance to see a cornerstone laying in Gloucester, MA for a rebuilt Jewish Temple. The ceremony was wonderful and the new building is great. The cornerstone was "symbolic" as there are very few buildings that use cornerstones any more. That and the building was already built when we did it.
It was a slab of granite with an inscription on it. I was chuckling when they put the square on it as it looked more like the rough ashlar than the perfect ashlar and could not possibly be square but it was, of course, declared "square". I guess it's all in the symbols.
WOW! 150 Masons! We had 26 Masons that I could count, without being obvious about it, and 125-130 in the rest of the crowd. S&F
It was very cool. We assembled at the City Hall and marched by lodge the two blocks to the Temple. the Police closed the streets and we stood there in dark suits and tuxes with everyone wearing an apron. The Masons outnumbered the profanes! After the ceremony they fed us cookies and soft drinks.
It seems like there is a lot of cornerstone laying going on and I was just complaining about the lack of. I believe WB Hodapp blog has a mention of it too.
