A Week in Virginia

By Bros. Jim Jack and George Kelly.

Thursday. Wayne Price our friend and Brother had  extended an invitation to visit Virginia again when he was here in November 2004. During our conversations by E mail he became more persistent with is invitation. I mentioned to George Kelly in a passing conversation that I was going over in September and before you could whistle Dixie he was back on the phone asking if he could go! 

We left Glasgow on the 10.50 flight to London on 1st. Sept. then on to Washington, arriving at 18.00 local time (23.00 our time). We were met by Wayne, Raymond Steele and Richard Radi. George remarked that it was the quickest that he had cleared an airport, just as well said Wayne, we`re going to a meeting! We had only been in the country ten minutes and we were on our to a meeting, but not just any meeting, this was an annual joint meeting of Treadwell Lodge No.213 and Hunter Lodge No.135 and it was held in the open air in a quarry! It was a fantastic experience, the Lodge was set out as you would expect, but the daises and alter were blocks of stone. As the sun set on a clear night the three lights lit up the whole scene.

Friday. Visited the Temple of Hiram Lodge No. 21 in Winchester and received an explanation of the history of the Temple by Bro. John Westerfield. Bro. Richard Radi, an expert on the civil war, took us on a walking tour of Winchester which included the Stonewall Jackson museum.  On Friday evening George and I attended a meeting of Bob M. Pride Council No. 203, holding under The Grand Council of Allied Masonic Degrees of America. George and I were admitted into the Order by Sovereign Master Bro. Richard Radi. The A.M.D. do not exist in Scotland, although the Order is well established in England and other countries. Each Council consists of only 27 members and admission is by invitation.  After the ceremonial, George presented a   paper on King Robert the Bruce, which was well received by the members present.

Saturday.  Set out with Wayne and Raymond to trace the route north through      Maryland and Pennsylvania that Robert E. Lee's army of Northern Virginia took on the way to the battle of  Gettysburg. We stopped at the famous river crossing town of Harpers Ferry where John Brown led a revolt to free slaves. We also visited the arsenal where he was captured. We arrived in Gettysburg mid morning and visited the museum, the guided tour of the battle field, the battle sequence centre and the town of Gettysburg. In the town we visited the hotel which Abraham Lincoln stayed  before his famous Gettysburg Address . Also in the town was a battle re enactment group who demonstrated firing their guns

Sunday. The day of rest.  We were invited to breakfast at a local hotel by Wayne and members of his family. We then attended Raymond's church service in Middletown. Raymond is a lay preacher at his local Methodist Church.  Afternoon was spent in the Strasburg area. In the evening Raymond invited us to a "cook out" at his house. This was like a giant barbeque where friends and members of family and the Lodge attended.

Monday.  Invited to play golf at Jackson's Chase Golf Club. The President of the P.G.L. Golf section would have been proud of George and I. Final result P.G.L. lost to America 2 & 1. Afternoon spent touring the Skyway National Park.   Attended  Spurmont Lodge No. 98 in  Strasburg and Jim Jack presented the Masonic Exhibition at Tours powerpoint lecture. 

Tuesday. Went to the civil war battle field at Sharpsburg [Antietam]. This was a bloody day long battle which ended inconclusively, although the North claimed a great victory. The National Park facility and guides were fantastic, they had two film presentations and guided tours of the field of battle. In afternoon we had dinner at Richard Radi`s house and he spent some time with us explaining his extensive civil war collection. In the evening we attended Virginia Bluebell Lodge No. 8 of Free Gardeners in Strasburg.  The new Lodge is doing very well with three new candidates initiated on the night. I gave a presentation of the recent exhibition which our Lodge held in Uddingston. This was well received by the 12 members of  of the Lodge present.

Wednesday. A busy day lay ahead of us today. For the first time we travelled east across Virginia to the historical town of Fredericksburg. We visited George  Washington's Mother Lodge, Fredericksburg No. 4. The Lodge was founded in 1752, George Washington was  Initiated in 1753 and remarkably the Lodge received a   Charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1758 before becoming No.4 under the Grand Lodge of Virginia in 1787. The Temple was on two levels, the larger more modern Temple was on the ground floor and the older Temple, which was now only used for special occasions was on the top floor. We were advised by the Lodge members to visit the local museum as the original Lodge furniture was on loan there and formed part of a George Washington  exhibition. We left Fredericksburg and travelled back west to visit the battle of Chancellorsville (1863) where General Lee won a crushing victory despite being outnumbered 2 to 1. This was however a hollow victory as Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded. We moved on in this area steeped in Civil War history to another battlefield at The Wilderness (1864) here again despite being heavily outnumbered Lee outfought the Federals. So far we had visited four battlefields, Gettysburg, Sharpsburg, Chancellorsville and The Wilderness and they are all completely different battlefields. In the evening we were invited to the local Shriners Club dinner which was held in a local hotel.

Thursday. Today we headed south to the historic town of Lexington, the burial place of Robert E . Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Firstly our visit took us to the Virginia Military  Institute where Jackson taught and where the cadets left to support Confederate troops at the battle of New Market (1864). We visited the Lee family resting place in the adjacent Washington and Lee University Chapel. Lee taught here  after the war. Jackson's house was our next stop then on to a graveyard packed with Civil War graves to see the spot where Jackson was buried after his death at Chancellorsville.  On the way back north we visited  the battle field at New Market where the Cadets from the VMI helped to secure a victory for the South. In the evening we attended John Dove Royal Arch Chapter No. 21 in  Winchester where I delivered a lecture on Roslyn Chapel.

Friday. Headed north to  Washington as this was our last day we planned to visit the city on our way home. We left  at 7am and met John Schroder the I.P.M. Of the Civil War   Research Lodge  at The George Washington Masonic    Memorial, Alexandria.  The Memorial guided tour was  tremendous, the guide explained the different Orders which occupied the various floors. John then took us on a tour of the city, visiting the White House, The Capitol building and many famous named streets before our second guided tour, The House of The Temple. 

This magnificent building is the headquarters of The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Right, Southern Jurisdiction. The huge library contains the largest collection of Robert Burns books in  the world. John Shroder pointed out various items of interest and described the various works of Albert Pike. One item of interest was the Scottish Rite Masonic flag which astronaut  Buzz Aldren flew on the moon!