Masonic Marker visit

This past weekend my wife and I decided to go hiking off the Blue Ridge parkway for a little while. We are lucky enough to live only about 7 miles from the parkway and visit it often. It is a great place to go hiking or for a picnic. There are some very beautiful spots to visit and you could spend weeks going from Cherokee, NC to Waynesboro, VA 469 miles later.

One place I had never been is just 2 miles off a side road between Waynesville, NC and Maggie Valley, NC. It is the Great Smoky Mountains Masonic Marker. It was dedicated July 11, 1938 and is made up of 687 stones and items sent from lodges all over the globe and from every continent including Antarctica. Leading up to the monument from the east is a series of 3, 5, 7, and  steps with the names of contributing bodies engraved on each.

For more history check out http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/Great_Smoky_Mountains_Masonic_Monument.htm as well as http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/Catalogue_of_Stones.pdf for a great pdf file of some more history and complete diagrams of the monument and each stone in it. 

I would encourage each Freemason to visit this marker if they are in the area. This was constructed during a time just before WWII and with the political tension rising. It is a monument to the cement of brotherly love and affection that bonds us into one sacred band of brothers. It is a lesson that we should never forget.

(Click on pictures for larger images)

This reads "The Visible stones of this marker were sent from historic or interesting places by Freemasons of the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Isles of the Seas. To Universal Benevolence"

This last picture is of the ground on the south side of the marker. Look close and you can see the 2 columns on each side of the square and compasses. Right above that is the
 symbols for each of the York Rite bodies. It is very nicely done and beautiful.

I plan on going back soon with a camera other than my phone to get some better pictures.