The Home of the Nashville Scottish Rite: A Tour of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee
Welcome to the home of the Nashville Scottish Rite. My name is Dan Jones, and I am the secretary of the Nashville Scottish Rite. This is our sign here on this building, indicating the four bodies of the Nashville Scottish Rite: Moqedah Lodge of Perfection, Emannuel Chapter of Rose Croix, St. Michael Council of Kadosh, and Trinity Consistory.
Come and spend some time with us. The Nashville Scottish Rite shares this building with the Grand Lodge of Tennessee. This is the main lobby of the Grand Lodge, and over my left shoulder is a picture of our current Grandmaster, Brother Robert Reed. The other pictures in this lobby are past grandmasters who are still living, except for one who passed away this year; that portrait is draped in black. Let’s continue to the library.
Nashville Scottish Rite Library
This is the Scottish Rite library. We have over 3,000 volumes of Masonic books, English literature, a Robert Burns collection, a Charles Dickens collection, many law books, and books that are very old, delicate, and rare. We cherish each one of them. We recently digitalized this library and did away with our card catalog system. If you’re doing research and looking for a certain book, you are welcome to come and do research here in the Nashville Scottish Rite library.
The only items in this particular room that do not belong to the Scottish Rite are the portraits above my head on the four surrounding walls. These are the portraits of the first 25 grandmasters of Tennessee. The Grand Lodge of Tennessee was chartered in 1813 under North Carolina. Prior to that, there were many Masons in Tennessee, but the lodges came under the charter of North Carolina. In 1813, it was released to Tennessee. Our first Grandmaster was Tom Claiborne, an attorney, a member of the House of Representatives, and Speaker of the House. He served under Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812.
Next to him is Robert Searcy, who rode horseback from Nashville, Tennessee, to Raleigh, North Carolina, to bring back a dispensation for Cumberland Lodge, which is still active. It recently merged with Corinthian Lodge in Tennessee, but Cumberland Lodge No. 8 was one of the first lodges chartered under North Carolina. Hiram Lodge No. 7 was actually the first and still retains its original charter from North Carolina.
Next is Wilkins Tannehill, who was a mayor of Nashville. Tannehill rewrote the Masonic ritual for Tennessee, and the books we are given, called the Tennessee Craftsman, when a man becomes a Master Mason, are part of his original work. Next to him is Bliss Hayes, an attorney and Presbyterian minister. Next is Andrew Jackson, one of two presidents who were grandmasters, the other being Harry Truman of Missouri. Jackson was a senator, governor of the Florida territory, Revolutionary War hero, general, and president. Next is Brother Cooper, who also served under Jackson in the War of 1812 and was an educator and banker.
Next is Kennedy, an attorney who served on General Andrew Jackson’s staff in the War of 1812. Then we have Brother Hugh Dunlap, a state legislator who also served in the Mexican War. Next is Archibald Yell, an attorney who served on Jackson’s staff in the War of 1812 and was a member of the state legislature and Speaker of the House. When Jackson was elected president, he appointed Yell as judge over the Arkansas territory. After Arkansas became a state, Yell was elected governor. In the 1840s, during the war with Mexico, Yell re-enlisted in the military, led the Arkansas brigade to the Battle of Buena Vista in 1847, and was killed in that battle. Six months later, his men exhumed his body and brought it back to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he was reinterred in the old city cemetery.
The man who took Yell’s place in battle was a young captain named Albert Pike, who later wrote the Scottish Rite ritual. Next to Archibald Yell is Jennings, an attorney who also served as Deputy Grandmaster of Mississippi. Next is Brother Douglas, mayor of Lebanon, Tennessee, who owned the first cotton press in the southeast. Next is Brother Tappan, who was in the railroad industry, served as Grandmaster in Tennessee, later became Grandmaster of Mississippi, and then moved to Texas to start a new railroad in the Midland-Odessa area.
We have Brother Julius Caesar Robertson, a state senator who served well in the legislature and Senate. Next is Priestley, connected with Cumberland Law School, which continued to operate in Nashville until 1965. The law department was sold to Samford University in Birmingham, and it is now known as Cumberland Law School at Samford. Cumberland University is now a liberal arts college, attended by many state politicians.
Next is McManus, a businessman in Nashville who ran a trading company up and down the Cumberland River. Next is Wilson, who was in the newspaper business and operated one of the early newspapers in Nashville. Next is Joseph Norvell, who, along with his brother Moses, founded the Whig Party in Tennessee, an anti-Andrew Jackson party. This shows the brotherhood of the Masonic fraternity, where men of different opinions can leave their differences outside the door and find common ground in fellowship and camaraderie.
Next is Dillahunty, a circuit judge, with Dillahunty Lodge in Lewisburg, Tennessee, named after him. Next is Martin, a state senator. Next is Burton, a member of Mount Moriah Lodge No. 18 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and the US consul to the Isle of St. Thomas. Next is Robert Carothers, founder of Cumberland Law School in 1863. Carothers was elected governor of Tennessee but never served due to the Civil War and the divided interests on both sides. Another brother, Andrew Johnson, who later became president, called in Union troops and prevented Carothers from taking office. He is Tennessee’s only elected governor who never served.
Next is Fuller, in the newspaper industry. Next is Hughes, a US District Attorney. Next is Dashiell, another mayor of Nashville, who later became captain of a steamboat sailing from Nashville to Cincinnati and New Orleans. The last brother in this room is McCullough, in the newspaper industry in Clarksville, Tennessee.
That concludes our first 25 grandmasters. There are a few more portraits in the corridors that I’d like to point out. Follow me.
This is Brother James Daniel Richardson, Grandmaster of Tennessee in 1873, Grand High Priest of the York Rite in 1883, and Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Scottish Rite for Tennessee in 1888. In 1900, he was elected Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite. He was a congressman and ran the Library of Congress while living in Washington during his tenure as Sovereign Grand Commander. He passed away in 1914, but in 1906, he turned the first shovel of dirt to lay the cornerstone of the House of the Temple in Washington, DC. His picture is not an old portrait on canvas but drawn with chalk, charcoal, and pencil, reminding us to go back to basics. He does not wear a grandmaster collar or apron, just a plain picture of himself. In our Tennessee ritual, the entered apprentice degree, which is written down and not a secret, teaches us that our ancient brethren served the master with freedom, fervency, and zeal, symbolized by chalk, charcoal, and clay. This picture takes us back to the basics of Freemasonry.
Symbolism of the Nashville Scottish Rite Auditorium
Now, let’s go upstairs and take a look at our main auditorium. This is where the Grand Lodge of Tennessee holds its annual communication and where we confer the Scottish Rite degrees. Masonry is full of symbolism, and one thing we often miss is the symbolism of this floor. Most lodges have a checkered floor, representing the ground floor of King Solomon’s Temple, checkered with good and evil. Man, as a conscious being, can choose to take good or evil steps. Additionally, the floor represents music, with black and white squares symbolizing the keys of a piano, representing major and minor chords. Music theory teaches us that augmenting a minor chord into a major chord is called “raising the third,” symbolizing raising from darkness to light, from ignorance to intellectual knowledge.
The men who built this building, including James Daniel Richardson, were progressive and forward-thinking. The architect, Christian Asmuth, a German immigrant and Scottish Rite member, incorporated Masonic symbolism into the design. The first row of steps in the auditorium has 33 steps, indicating the 33rd and last degree of Freemasonry. The steps to the rear of the auditorium total 28, a significant number in Masonry, as Albert Pike devoted 240 pages to the 28th degree in “Morals and Dogma.” The number of steps from this floor down to the next floor is 32, divided into four flights of eight steps each. The front steps to the lobby have 30 steps, indicating the Council of Kadosh. The steps from the next floor up to the top floor and from the floor beneath us to the basement are 26, divided into two flights of 13 steps each. The number 26 is significant, as it corresponds to the numerical value of God’s name in Hebrew, YHWH, showing the Masonic foundation in the Kabbalah.
It’s been great giving you a tour of this building. Before we close, I’d like to tell you about a couple of things the Scottish Rite does here in Nashville. We support the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Speech and Hearing Center as our philanthropy for the Scottish Rite Foundation. Our almoner manages numerous pieces of ambulatory equipment, such as the motorized wheelchairs and regular wheelchairs you see behind me. We also have about 40 hospital beds, numerous walkers, bedside tables, and potty chairs. Anyone in the Middle Tennessee jurisdiction can borrow this equipment at no charge. They use it as long as they need, and we then pick it up, return it, and properly sterilize it with the help of William Surgical Company here in Nashville.
The Nashville Scottish Rite has a couple of treasures I’d like to tell you about. We spoke earlier about James Daniel Richardson from the Nashville Valley, who became Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite. When he was elected to that position, the Nashville Scottish Rite had a unique sword made for him. The handle is made of elephant ivory, and the hilt features an amethyst worth over $75,000 today. There are two models of the 33rd-degree ring, triple rings of gold, and on each side of the hilt, there is about a two-carat diamond. The blade, made of high-quality Damascus steel, was appraised at over $2,500. The total appraisal of the sword was over $300,000. This sword was presented to James Daniel Richardson when he became Sovereign Grand Commander, and after his death, his wife returned it to the Scottish Rite office, where we keep it in our vault.
In 1910, our brothers at a stated meeting decided to assess every member of the Scottish Rite 10 pennyweights in gold. Ten pennyweights is about half an ounce, and gold at that time was selling for $21.67 an ounce, so they were asking for about $11 worth of gold. They didn’t want just any gold; they wanted family heirloom jewelry, as the Scottish Rite is a family. That’s why we call it a reunion when we take in new members. We have various committees and teams in the Scottish Rite, such as our stage crew, kitchen crew, greeting crew, and documentation crew. These members work closely throughout the year within their committees, and twice a year at our reunions, they come together like a family reunion.
They wanted family heirloom gold that was too worn out to wear but still had sentimental value. Sixty-one Nashville Scottish Rite members contributed old wedding rings, brooches, and watch cases. The gold contributed was valued at $301.22. They then took up a cash collection, and 184 members gave all they could afford, amounting to $4,488. The lodge paid the difference of $195.28, for a total of $984.50 in gold value and cash. They sent this to the Gorham Company in New York City and had a chalice cast to use in our degrees. We have used this chalice in every 14th and 18th degree and Maundy Thursday service since 1911. The chalice, valued at $984.50 in 1911, has grown in value to over $250,000 today. We will continue to use it in every reunion and Maundy Thursday service. The base of the chalice has the same symbols as our sign at the beginning of this building, indicating the Lodge of Perfection, the Chapter of Rose Croix, the Council of Kadosh, and the Consistory. This is one of our treasures, and the best way to celebrate it is to use it.
Thank you so much for joining us today and taking this tour with me. It has been a real pleasure to have you in our midst.