The North Carolina Mason

Page 4 The North Carolina Mason Cornerstone of the Carolinas Te first Mason On the Square was Char- lotte’s founder Tomas Polk. His heroic leader- ship was evident from the day in 1755 he first set foot On the Square, the American Indian hilltop crossroads that soon became, and today remains, Trade and Tryon. He was great uncle of US President James Knox Polk—both of them Masons—who founded Charlotte. In 1775, he helped write, was first to sign, and proclaimed the Mecklen- burg Declaration of Independence in the court- house On the Square. He was the general who led 200 troops to rescue the Liberty Bell from being melted into British bullets. It was at his house On the Square where President George Washington, a brother Mason, met with him and other pioneer settlers. Today the 1,745,524 people of the Charlotte metropolitan area express their thanks to the city’s founder with Tomas Polk Park, a charm- ing refuge. On the Square, of course. Te First Map Charlotte as it was in 1781 has been mapped in a jewel of a document drawn by city engi- neers from its archives. It identifies each lot by location, dimensions and names of all the first owners. It shows the first courthouse built smack in the middle of the street at Trade and Tryon. Among the many property owners listed are Waightstill Avery, who became Master of his Masonic lodge in Rutherfordton and North Carolina’s first Attorney General. Other Masons who were earliest owners of Charlotte real estate include Tomas Polk, Ephraim Brevard, John Foard, Adam Alexander, Hezekiah Alexander, Abraham Alexander, James Jack, and Duncan Ochiltree, who later helped establish the new NC Grand Lodge. Charlotte’s Ever-Changing Square Tough its Masonic character prevails through the centuries, Te Square keeps chang- ing. Charlotte has always been too distracted to relive and bask in its past. It stays busy replacing, rebuilding, redesigning, and replanning itself. The Square, dynamic crown of the Queen City of the Carolinas, moves like mercury— too fast to capture. Nowhere else in the Carolinas can you blink and see such change. This Square, this Trade-and- Tryon conjunction, is a stage where immense buildings rise and fall like curtains be- tween acts. The pace seems so rapid you wonder how you missed the covered wag- on becoming the car becom- ing the bus becoming the train becoming the jet plane before your eyes. And yet the street names are essentially the same as in 1775. Gold, the real thing, lies for- ever under everyone’s feet. “North” is, as always, northeast. Churches are easier to find than street lights. Funny stories and family names heard in Charlotte keeping reminding you of Edinburgh or Glasgow. So is Charlotte a new city? A prize pack of bloodhounds could not sniff anything to track. Essentially Charlotte is an always-new city with a rich past. Te Osborne Corner and Belk’s Department Store are long gone, but the Blumenthal Center stands tall at Te Square today to honor Dick and Herman Blumenthal of Phalanx 31. A grand place to be. Te Masonic Square in Charlotte, any century you visit. All NC Lodges have a Piece of Te Square Phalanx 31. Williams 176. Long Creek 205. Excelsior 261. Matthews 461. Joppa 530. Temple 676. East Gate 692. Charles M. Setzer 693. St. Andrew 702. Derita 715. Steele Creek 737. West Gate 738. Newell 739. Mint Hill 742. James K. Polk 759. Members of these Mecklenburg County lodges can be in their cars and On the Square of Charlotte in less than an hour. So can Masons far- ther from center Charlotte. From Aberdeen to Zebu- lon, from mountains to sea, brethren across the entire Tar Heel state feel at home on their frequent visits to Charlotte friends, relatives, and brother Masons. Teir visits to Te Square—their Square—are always worthwhile. After visiting Tomas Polk Park on the southwest comer, Masons can stand in awe before four gi- ant sculptures by artist Raymond Kaskey. Trans- portation is represented by a railroad worker. Future is depicted as a woman holding her child. Commerce is symbolized by a gold miner spill- ing money onto the head of a banker. And In- dustry is represented by a woman wearing a bon- net to depict the mills and early industry of the region. Te child peeking from her skirt suggests child labor of the past. Te Bank of America Corporate Center at 100 North Tryon displays three frescoes by Ben Long. A metal plaque imbedded at ground level of Te Square declares, “Independence Square... On the morning of the 20th day of May in the year 1775 the patriots of Mecklenburg County declared themselves free and independent of Great Britain by signing the Mecklenburg Dec- laration of Independence which preceded the national declaration by more than a year. “Te signing took place in a rustic backwoods courthouse which stood nearby at the center of the intersection of Trade and Tryon Streets. In McLaurin among the remembered LAURINBURG — Mars Camp 1632 of Sons Of Con- federate Veterans is placing veteran crosses at the graves of each of the about 90 Confederate veterans buried in Hillside Cemetery in Laurinburg. One of those marked is that of a lo- cal Masonic pioneer. Laurinburg 305 Master Michael Nobles is seen here at the grave of William Hugh McLaurin, the first master of Laurinburg Lodge. McLaurin was charter master in 1870 and served in that station for several years. “Cap’n Billy,” as he was known by his men and friends after the war, was a captain in Company F, 18th NC Infantry (Te Scotch Boys), Army of Northern Virginia. Af- ter the war, he came back to Laurinburg as a successful business- man and philanthropist. — Michael Nobles Clemmons’ golf pays WINSTON-SALEM — Clemmons 755 has a big golf tourna- ment every year. At Annual Communication last year they do- nated $12,000 to the Masonic Homes. Seen here presenting the checks are, from left, Herb Thomas, WhiteStone Administrator Mark Kolada, Larry Holloman, Tom Erickson, Troy Johnson, and Home for Children Administrator Allen Hughes. KIDS, from page 1 “I wanted to teach the same lessons in a positive way. I did not see that anywhere,” says Demers. On the artistic end, Demers knew certain things about how he wanted to go about his project. He wanted characters and scripts to present positive images and role models. He wanted to make modern technologies that interest kids today (smart phones and computers and Internet) to be part of the story as well as the product. “We have all these wonderful technologies, and we should be using them to their potential.” And, he said, “At the end of the day, we want people to learn more about history.” historic location. Additionally, there are to be three five-minute segments on the Rusty Bucket Kids website. Tat area will be used to promote diverse sources of history information. “Te knowledge and expertise are already there if you are willing to let them help.” Te story line is this: the Rusty Bucket Kids (played by Demers’ children Roxanna and Johncoleman) travel back in time to meet famous people during their teenage years. Demers is fond of re- ferring to it as “Back to the Future meets the History Channel.” Te kids learn about and help the not-yet-famous kids deal with personal challenges. Te first episode is about Abraham Lincoln at 16 years old. Tomas Edison and the Wright Brothers will be the subjects of the next two episodes. Apex, NC plays the imaginary town Peak City, the hometown of the Rusty Bucket Kids. Demers lives just down the road in New Hill. Old favorites from WRAL, Charlie Gaddy and Mark Rob- erts, play characters in the episodes. Art is everywhere RANGER — Art and artists are everywhere. The welders who built this cooker for Montgomery 426 couldn’t help but add a touch of art to their creation. It’s worked too. According to Derek Cheek, they’ve raised a bunch of money for Masonic charity with that cooker. 1819 the Congress of the United States declared that Mecklenburg County in North Carolina was the cradle of American liberty. “Dedicated this 2nd day of October, 1974, to the citizens of Mecklenburg County as a last- ing memorial to the spirit of independence of the early patriots of Mecklenburg.” Te plaque is signed by Masons Mayor John Belk and Mayor pro tem James B. Whittington. Heard on the Square Language expressions have a way of hanging on for years, even for ages. “If you can’t trade on Tryon, try on Trade.” Tat wordplay goes way back. “Always on the square” found its way into newspaper ads prepared by merchants eager to assure customers of their honesty. “Te streets are paved with gold” popped up in letters and articles originating in Eastern US cities to gen- erate a mystique that drew countless immigrants to American shores. But it was uniquely, literally true on the streets of uptown Charlotte. “On the level,” ‘the third degree,” and “black- ball” moved from Masonic lodge halls to street stories and Hollywood movies across more than a century. Restaurant menus in and around Charlotte’s Square often feature “square meals.” And in Charlotte schoolrooms you can hear, ‘Trade plus Tryon equals Charlotte squared.” An Additional Identity Te day has come for all men and Masons to give Te Square of Charlotte a fresh name. Among the many things we Masons are known for are our laying cornerstones. Surely after 256 years Te Square has earned the title of Corner- stone of the Carolinas. It requires no physical monument to dedicate, for Te Square compris- es a cornerstone per se, one of unprecedented dimensions and vitality to society. As such its realm warmly reaches beyond the nearby South Carolina border to share with all peo- ple and places—and Masons—of that great State. March/April 2011 every St. John’s Day celebration. His acting background gave him a special appreciation for Masonic ritual. He especially enjoyed playing the part of the third ruffian. As Masonry has benefitted from Demers’ interests, so now will the current run the other way. A Masonic element is coming in Rusty Bucket Kids. A sharp eye on the first episode will catch a Masonic ring on the hand of mysterious figure of Great Grandpa Peaksson. Without giving too much away, Great Grandpa in later episodes helps found the lodge in Peak City as well as an orphanage. On the technical and production end, Demers says, “We want everyone involved to go home and go to bed after work — localize the talent.” Tis should be possible with North Carolina’s media industry. Also important is to give everyone a real stake in the production, open the show up to teamwork and input from all participants. It can work “if you do things for the right reasons, if you do things because you know you’re going to benefit other people, if you truly work hard, and allow everyone to be part of the creative and business process,” says Demers. The forced timeout also gave Demers a chance to develop a business plan for producing such a show. Demers reminds, “If you make it, you still have to have it make money. It’s a business, you have to monetize it. I spent equal amounts of time developing the creative side and business model.” How to sustain a television series? “I looked at localization. Independent film has become more localized, but that has not really come to television. It’s hard to do that locally because of expenses — it just eats all the money you can expect from spon- sors from a local show.” So, Demers started devising a modified regional model. Tat model included partnering with Raleigh’s WRAL televi- sion and its sister stations around the state. He would enlist re- gional sponsors and give them spots on all versions of the product, not just ad spots during broadcast. Te full project is set to include 13 half-hour episodes and a 24-minute documentary from each Te show got its name from a real shop in downtown Apex. “It started when I was sick, and I was walking around town a lot. When I was feeling well enough, I’d drive into town from my house, and I’d walk around town. It seemed that I always stopped in front of the Rusty Bucket for my rest, my break. When I started putting some of my creative ideas to locations, it became the loca- tion for our family from Peak City. I started talking to [owners] Pam and Mack Torpe about the idea, and they liked it. We made an agreement that the Rusty Bucket Store would be the namesake for our franchise.” In the mid-1980s, John Demers spent a lot of time with his buddy Patrick Ward and his friends. He heard them talking about lodge and wondered why they didn’t invite him to join. When he learned that the secret was Masonry’s rule against invitations to join the fraternity, he asked the right questions and went on in 1987 to join Millbrook 97 in Raleigh. He has found the fraternity “enriching” and attended nearly Te plan is still early in development. One show has wrapped and been broadcast in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Wilmington. “We’ve proved a model that can make money, the localized busi- ness model.” Now the challenge is to take it to other markets to make the revenue grow. Te Rusty Bucket Kids are getting noticed. In November, they garnered three Midsouth Regional Emmy nominations for set design, music, and writing. Tey trophied in short film at the Sky- Fest Film Festival and won approval from Dove Foundation. So when you see the Rusty Bucket Kids on television, call your kids or grandkids, learn a little history, toast a brother, and re- member to look for that silver lining. Ric Car ter photo Ric Car ter photo

• Cover