Masonic Temple

The tour of the Masonic Temple was one of my favorite parts of this trip. As I walked through the city, I felt connected to the past because I appreciate the sacrifice, wisdom, and strength it took to accomplish the things that happened there. As I walked through the temple, though, it was a different connection. I have a lot of family history in Pennsylvania that I hope to someday be able to go back and explore. Most of my family from that area was masonic. I went to the clerk in the temple and asked if she could see if my great grandfather belonged to a lodge that met there in the temple, and she was able to find his record for me. The temple is exquisite in its rich detail.



This is just one of the staircases that leads to different floors.

Each meeting room has a different theme. This was the Egyptian room, and you would think you had walked into a pyramid. The walls have heiroglyphs from Egyptian temples all over them, and these were all from temples that were discovered before the 1800s. There were too many flourescent lights for me to get a picture that even came close to capturing the stunning beauty in these rooms. I really recommend taking this online tour to see some of it better.



There were several statues similar to this one throughout the temple. These were carved from pine, and then painted. To hear it described, it doesn't sound nearly as lovely as the finished pieces are. They look like stone!


This was a photo of the Rennaisance room. I loved this room because that is another era of history that I really enjoy.