Little behind here, but while Beth was here we also took a tour of the Masonic Temple in Alexandria.  The tour was AWESOME, and our tour guide was very knowledgeable and helpful in explaining many things about the Masons.  Since this temple is devoted to George Washington, there are many artifacts from Washington himself.  According to our guide, the portrait, painted below is one of the only ones that shows what Washington really looked like.  He would only allow the painting to be made if it showed his ‘true’ self.  Our guide also displaced many myths about Geo Washington too, like the fact that he had wooden teeth.  According to our guide his teeth were probably slave teeth.  Ewwww!

The fascinating story to me was about how people would be buried alive only to be uncovered by grave robbers!  Eek!  So today we use the term “Wake” for the three day period after death where you would be watched to see if you awoke.  Also, after you were buried, they would tie a string to your finger and it would come up out of the grave in case you woke up—hence the term “ring finger” and “Saved by the bell!”

 

Below, is the chair that GW sat in during the Mason meetings.  As I said, our guide was a wealth of knowledge and explained many of the practices during that time, and how it made common phrases today.  Here are some of the best ones I remember:

“Crack a smile” and “Save face” related to the fact that make up had a lot of wax in it, so when you smiled you would ‘crack’—also, if you got too hot, the wax would melt, hence the term ‘save face’

The Masons were known to have many meetings in pubs.  Sometimes these meetings would get ‘out of hand’—that is where the term “Mind your P’s and Q’s” came to be for “pints and quarts!”

The tour took us through the rooms set up like Mason rooms.  Interestingly, they made lots of ‘mistakes’ in the room so people who tried to claim themselves as Mason’s would soon be figured out! 

Because of the shape of the tower, the elevator in this building actually works on rails like a railroad.  This allows it to go inward at a 9 degree angle.  Once on top we could see an awesome view of the city!

Above left, you see the stage featured in the movie National Treasure 2 opening scene.  The tour was very interesting!!