September 15, 2025 • 33 mins
As America approaches its 250th anniversary, Bro. Chris Carosa, Union-Star Lodge No. 320, previews the Grand Lodge of New York’s celebration of America 250. We’ll talk about the often overlooked influence of Freemasonry on the American Revolution to the foundation of New York State.
Show notes:
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/craftsmen-online-podcast--4822031/support.
Show notes:
- Join us on Patreon. Start your FREE seven day trial to the Craftsmen Online Podcast and get instant access to our bonus content! Whether it's a one time donation or you become a Patreon Subscriber, we appreciate your support.
- Visit the Craftsmen Online website to learn more about our next Reading Room event, New York Masonic History, and our Masonic Education blog!
- Follow the Craftsmen Online Podcast on Spotify.
- Subscribe to the Craftsmen Online Podcast on Apple Podcasts.
- Follow Craftsmen Online on YouTube, hit subscribe and get notified the next time we go LIVE with a podcast recording!
- Yes, we're on Tik Tok and Instagram.
- Get our latest announcements and important updates in your inbox with the Craftsmen Online Newsletter.
- Email the host, RW Michael Arce! Yes, we will read your email and may even reach out to be a guest on a future episode.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/craftsmen-online-podcast--4822031/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, Concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Asonic Authority, or Craftsman Online dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast, the only Masonic
podcast endorsed by the Grand Lodge in New York. I'm
your host, right worshipe, Brother Michael Arsa, and you've joined
us for an episode on our founding principles as we
get into freemasonries enduring legacy in America. We're gonna have
that conversation with Brother Chris Carosa in just seconds, but
before we get started, I gotta share this with you.
(00:49):
Over the summer, we started a push to get twenty
new Patreon subscribers on the Craftsman Online podcast. And there's
nothing that makes my heart smile more than to open
up my email box at six o'clock in the morning
and find this letter waiting for me. This message says,
hey there, Brother Michael Larsai, just wanted to thank you
for your podcast. I started listening to it about a
(01:09):
year and a half ago after I found out author
Angel Malar was talking on your show. I became a
regular listener and eventually started scouting out lodges in my area.
I eventually found one in my area and I like it,
and I petitioned and was accepted. I took my obligation
on the evening of August twenty first at Beaverton one
hundred in Oregon. Thanks again for your podcast, No, thank
(01:32):
you Brother Stark for sending this message, and again for
becoming our latest Patreon subscriber. Just five dollars a month,
you get access to our show's early ad free, and
you get the whole back catalog of all of our
subscriber extra episodes. Plus you get to help fund the
mission of this podcast, which is exactly what brought a
(01:52):
smile to my heart from Brother Stark's message. We're here
to help men who have an interest in Freemasonry get
connected with the craft. And nothing makes me prouder to
know that all the time and the hours we put
into producing. So whatever the episode was, whoever the guest
was we were talking to, and whatever it was we
were talking about that resonated with this man and led
(02:15):
him to continue his journey to join a Masonic lodge.
That's awesome and as a Patreon subscriber, that's what you
get to help us do. So thank you to all
of our Patreon subscribers and those who continue to join
us as we push to get twenty to close out
this fall. Let's look to what's coming up in the US.
You've heard us talk about the upcoming two hundred and
(02:37):
fiftieth anniversary I was better known as the America two
fifty celebration. We've reached out to historian Brother Chris Carrosa
from Union Star Lodge number three twenty. He's the senior
Warden of his lodge, getting ready to jump into the
big chair in the East, and he's gonna be talking
about some of the Grand Lodge of New York celebrations
for America two fifty and some of the special moments
(02:57):
we'll be highlighting with the American revel here in New
York State. But first, Brother Chris Carosa, welcome to the
Craftsman Online Podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Hey, thanks for having me. It's great to be here.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Being so humble, I'm just the senior warden of Union
Star Lodge three twenty, just the senior warden, spoken like
a true senior warden. How long have you been involved
in masonry and upstate New York.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
I would say maybe five or six years. I don't
even remember. Okay, definitely before COVID.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Best of luck. This is the year you get to
watch the East. We've done a bunch of podcasts about
that leadership cycle. You're joining us under the America two
to fifty banner, which again you're a big part of this.
There's a huge committee across the Grand Lodge of New York.
It's a big state. We've got a lot of history,
and there's a lot of questions, I think from just
folks that might be tuning in hearing this for the
first time, what is America two fifty and what's the
(03:48):
big deal about this anniversary.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So if you're old enough, you probably remember the bi
centennial and all the fun stuff that happened when you
were a kid, you know, from a little high eating contests,
soap carving contests, spelling bees, all that sort of nostalgic stuff,
and it was great. Everybody loved saying the word bi centennial. Trains,
locomotives hated their locomotives in red, white and blue collars.
(04:15):
Cadillac came out with a bi centennial convertible El Dorado,
which was white but red and blue trind so it
was a big thing. Fifty years later, two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary. Can you say the word semi quinn centennial.
It doesn't roll off the tongue as easily, and I
think it makes it difficult for Peter, for people to
(04:37):
kind of embrace what this celebration is all about. But really,
when you get to the bottom line, it's just the
bi centennial plus fifty years, and we get to do
it for New York State in a way that kind
of reflects on how the province later state of New
York played, the role it played within the Revolutionary War.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So many stories to get to. I love the you
immediately took me back. I remember I am old enough
to remember the bi centennial. I remember the special quarters
that came out that year and how awesome they were.
And yes, like most people, when I saw the actual
of what two point fifty is in letters, I'm like,
I couldn't even pronounce that super califragil expialidocious word. So
(05:18):
thank you for kind of simplifying this. And there is
a lot to get excited about, not just for the
Grand Lodge of New York. But as you said, the
entire state of New York, our empire state. Outside of
being a freemason, you're also historians. So give me a
little significance as to the history of two fifty What
makes this so special for us?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I just got done celebrating the two hundred and fiftieth
anniversary of Lafayette's travels through Western New York. I wrote
a book on that, specifically with the Western New York region,
and what I found as I was doing my book tour,
as I was involved in the bi centennial celebrations for
that event, people didn't even remember who laf Yet was.
(06:00):
The older people did, but too many people only know
Lafayette through the Hamilton Show. It's kind of disheartening as
a historian that it's not being taught the same way
it's that it used to be taught. For whatever reason,
maybe there's a lot more history, a lot more stuff
they have to kind of like compath into a school year.
(06:23):
But this is an opportunity for us to kind of
pretend like we're teachers and we learn ourselves what happened
during the Revolutionary War, but then actually share that excitement
that we had when we were kids. How many of
us dressed up as George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, or
even Paul Revere riding on a pretend horse, you know, say, hey,
(06:46):
the British are coming. The British are coming. And we
all know more about how that story was involved we
when we were kids, we probably didn't know Paul Revere
was a Mason. How much did we know about Mason's
and the Revolutionary War at that time when we learned,
And this is an opportunity from a Masonic standpoint to
kind of share that experience too, because when you really
(07:08):
look how America has created the country, that philosophy, which
derives directly from the Enlightenment, which was occurring right around
the same time, was shared with Freemasonry, and so in
a sense, Freemasonry was a crucible from which America is hatched.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I want to talk about two things you just brought up.
So one is the idea of America two fifty and
we all think of, oh, Declaration of Independence, Revolutionary War,
that's the birthplace of the country. But as you and
I kind of talked about before we hit the record
button here on the podcast, is that America two to
fifty is from that point all the way up until
like six months ago. And if you're listening to this
(07:49):
podcast when it's released, we're recording this in mid July
of twenty twenty five. America two to fifty. We still
have some time to get to that special moment when
it becomes real. Let's talk about how all of those
other parts of American history can relate to everyday Americans
looking to just be proud and celebrate. You don't have
to put the powdered wig on.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I talk about this to people with people all the time,
how we take certain things for granted. For example, words
like individual liberty, words and phrases like individual liberty, freedom,
personal property, all these things we say, oh, of course,
you know who would argue with that. Two hundred and
fifty years ago, that was radical thought. People didn't control
(08:35):
the government. The government controlled the people. Mostly monarchis control
the people. So for you to believe that you could
be on the level with those in charge of government,
that was heresy. You were hung if you thought that,
Especially in Europe, I mean, America was a little bit
more lenient because we needed everybody who was here. The colonists.
(08:59):
There weren't a lot of people here. We were really
forging a new kind of economy within the within the colonies,
and so we had to treat everybody the same. I mean,
it was just a practical sort of matter. So it
was a natural evolution for the colonies to kind of
move away from this idea of monarchy and towards this
(09:22):
idea of individual liberty and freedom.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And one of the things I think is unfortunate is
we had kind of talked about this as well, is
that politics always kind of creeps into celebrations or just
any part of our social happiness or joy that we
find here in the United States. We live in a
divisive country. It's been like this forever. Some people think
it's just recent, but you know, as a fan of history,
I know, you know, going back.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Yeah, it's like this for oh about two hundred and
forty nine years. You remember.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
You might not know, but.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
During the Revolutionary War, if they were to take polls
at that point, you would have found a third of
the people were Propatriot, a third of the people were
Tories loyalists to England, and a third of the people
were I don't care. I just want to live my life.
Does that sound like today? I mean, it does, doesn't it.
So in a way, this quote unquote divisiveness that we
(10:13):
have is a reflection on the American Revolution itself. The thing,
you know, here's an interesting point though, and again it
reflects on what Masonry is all about. During the Revolutionary War,
there are several cited cases where one side maybe defeated
(10:36):
the other side, and it didn't matter which side and
the defeated side, when you saw another Brother Mason on
the other side, you are more lenient and in a
couple of cases you actually saved their lives even though
they were the quote unquote enemy. They weren't the enemy.
The fact that they were a Masonic brother was higher
(10:57):
than the fact that they were on different sides of
the revels Lutionary War. That's an important concept to keep
in mind, and that's something that really we should share
with everybody. It's the utmost definition of civility. I know,
war can never be called civil, but here's an example
of brotherhood really overcoming this sort of political rift that occurred.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I've always said this on the podcast, and you'll appreciate
it as a historian, Chris, is that I feel if
you don't have a little bit of a history nerd
bug in you, you're really not going to fully appreciate
freemasonry because there's so much, as you keep alluding to
this American history that's part of it, from the signers
of the Declaration of Independence, from the founding fathers all
the way up until presidents and great men and communities
(11:43):
all across upstate New York or all across the great
state of New York and our country that just everyday people,
every day guys who were just good men who are Freemasons.
And I like the fact that each of our regions
across New York State, especially with our Grand Lodge, are
planning events and getting ready to celebrate milestones. And there's
tons of opportunities for lodges of all ages to get involved.
(12:05):
When I say ages, some of our oldest lodges to
some of our most recent lodges. Can you highlight some
of the special things that you know that's going on
in the Rochester and Buffalo area that you're getting excited
about for this coming year.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Sure, well, I can tell you just across the state
there's about a handful of events that the Grand Lodge
will be involved with, specifically, including one that I think
is occurring before this show airs in July of twenty
twenty five in Saratoga. So we're working with the Massachusetts
Grand Lodge together because that was really an event that
(12:38):
involved both Massachusetts and New York. So that's one that's
already occurred. I'll tell you the big highlight's going to
be in November of twenty twenty six, and that's going
to be a ball at Grand Lodge. You should look
forward to seeing more on that. It's already got scheduled.
It's already the room is already booked. We're working on
(12:58):
exactly what that event event is going to entail in
terms of a cuisine, in terms of maybe speakers, or
even a walking tour. It's you know, we're in New
York City and there are elements within just the city
itself that are pretty reflective of both Masonry and the
(13:18):
Revolutionary War. Outside of the city region or the capital district,
We've got definitely a couple events occurring. One is to
honor the Battle of riskany outside of Syracuse. The other
is to honor really Joseph Brandt, who's part of the
Thomas Boyd's story. Thomas Boyd for those who don't know,
(13:41):
was a member of the Sullivan campaign who was viciously killed.
The detail of his death is accounted both from the
Patriot side as well as the Seneca side Seneca Indians,
and it's horrific, but it's also the story that I'm
(14:04):
going to tell in forthcoming book that I'm writing. Just
he was a twenty three year old guy who probably
did some stuff that he shouldn't have done in terms
of his scout. Not that he did anything bad or
say immoral, he just didn't do things correct by the book.
He was a scout, he was only supposed to bring
four guys out with him. He brought twenty. He made
(14:27):
a lot of noise, So that's what I mean about
not doing the right thing. And then finally he got caught.
Not everybody got caught. There were some people who got away,
but he got caught and he was tortured and killed.
And it occurred about say, maybe sixty miles or fifty
miles south of Rochester, in an area that now called Anetius,
(14:50):
and he was he was buried there where they found him.
Him and another guy by the name of Parker were
both killed, but Thomas Boyd was the one who was
really tortured, and they were later reinterred in Rochester. And
I believe that General Sherman was involved somewhere with that,
(15:11):
which is interesting. General Sherman, if you remember this is
Civil War history, now essentially did the same thing that
Sullivan did during the Revolutionary War, which is basically, you
want to it's a scorched earth kind of tactic where
you prevent the enemy from continuing the war. And whether
or not or how successful they each were, I mean,
(15:33):
that's the subject of that historians debate. But the key
thing is this with the Thomas Boyd thing, and this
is where I was reflecting before about how enemies sometimes
helped each other. Joseph Brant, he was a chief of
the Mohawk Truck and they were allies with the British.
He was a Mason, and Thomas Boyd gave the Masonic
(15:56):
signal of distress, and Joseph Brant recognized and he said, okay,
we got to be nice to this guy. So he
in effect, at least for a moment, saved Thomas Boyd.
But Joseph Brandt left and the Tory ranger who was
also there, took over and he did not recognize what
(16:19):
Joseph Brant said did not honor that promise, and that's
why Thomas Boyd is killed. So we're going to tell
that story and reflect on how that really showed the
power of masonry, even though in this case it didn't.
There were other specific examples, by the way, in other
places in New York where it is documented that Joseph
France saved the lives of Patriot soldiers who were captured kidnapped.
(16:43):
One of the things to recognize is we don't have
When I say we, I mean Western New York doesn't
have a lot of Revolutionary War history. Other than the
Sullivan Campaign, which really just affected the lower portion of
the Western New York region. There's not a lot of
activity that occurred. The Iroquois fled to Niagara Falls, the
(17:09):
British held Niagara Falls. There were no really American Revolutionary
War battles at Niagara Falls or in that area. We
had a way to the War of eighteen twelve until
we got that, but you know, the sense of the
spirit of the revolution really did travel eventually to Western
(17:35):
New York. Remember, at the time after the Revolutionary War,
Western New York was still a frontier. There was no
settlement whatsoever until after the Revolutionary War, so people had
to do things. People had to come here. And it
was that Sullivan campaign that really opened up the eyes
(17:55):
for the Continental Army, that the soldiers in the army that, hey,
this is really prime territory to build farms, to build communities,
to build families. And that's what came, and a lot
of it. You know, you think of the Revolutionary War,
where you think of the American Revolution in that era,
you think of the town hall meeting primarily in New England.
(18:19):
You don't think of it that much, say in say
New York City or Albany, the parts of the colony
that were really settled. But once you got the settlement
out into the frontier, that whole town hall spirit kind
of was reborn. Maybe not as not as quite New
(18:40):
Englandish as it was in New England's but remember a
lot of these people who immigrated to western New York
came from New England, so they had that spirit. And
in fact, there was a there's another thing that happens
after the Revolutionary War that kind of propelled us to
creating the Constitution. It was Shay's Rebellion. It occurred in
(19:01):
western Massachusetts. It was sort of like the leftover philosophy
of the British governors. We're still there in Massa. We're
still there in Massachusetts even after America became America, in
Massachusetts became a state. So you had this little rebellion.
The guy Daniel Chaise, he's not buried in Massachusetts. He's
(19:21):
buried right down the street here in Western New York.
So that's the sense that the revolution, the spirit of
the Revolution, came to Western New York. And maybe that's
something that we need to celebrate too.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I'm telling the story about the Revolutionary War, and yes,
you know that's the beginning of the two fifty and
we're going through all of the years and all the
history that goes with that. And what I get excited
about hearing is and again this is a kid. History
was always my favorite subject in high school. I loved
hearing the stories because they were true from the past.
But I can't wait to hear about what made New
(20:20):
York the Empire state, when the Erie Canal came into play,
and how that completely transformed a region. As you said,
that was considered the wilderness, which anyone who's gone out
to Buffalo I mean, yeah, there's still some woods out there,
but pretty well developed out in western and central New
York and all the way across the state. And then
each one of these towns is going to have a
(20:41):
story to tell. And here's the cool part is you
keep pulling us back into it. Is that freemasonry. We
were the needle and thread that was stitching all of
these communities and these stories and these moments together. And
here's our chance to open up our log room doors
and invite people in from the public and celebrate these
moments and share these stories. And that's the thing that
I would charge to brothers, And like yourself, I was
(21:05):
sitting here thinking this has got to be first America
two fifty. This is the second time you get to
be excited to celebrate our country and how great it is.
But you're also going to be master of your lodge
next year. I'm imagining like it couldn't have come at
a better time.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I'll tell you next year when it happens.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
But to my point is that you don't have to
be completely connected. And I think that's one of the
things that I hear brothers when they talk about America
two fifty. They have the stereotype of oh, well, you know,
it's just for those older lodges that have been around forever,
and they always get to be the special lodges because
they're the colonial era lodges. And true, they do have
a really special legacy and a really unique story. But
(21:45):
every lodge was a part of the history of the
fabric of America, and we all have a story to tell.
So don't just use your lodge meetings as the opportunity
to tell these stories. Try to come up with ways
to invite the public into your room, bring families and
give kids the chance to maybe write essays or draw
pictures or tell the stories through all of the generations
(22:07):
that are there, and really return freemasonry back to what
it was and so many checkpoints across you know, our
history timeline here of just being an extension of the
community that we're in.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Remember two hundred and fifty years ago, when these communities
were first starting, there was no Chamber of Commerce, there
was no rotary club, there were no these sort of
civic organizations that blossomed in the in the area all
areas now, there was really only Freemasonry. Freemasonry was the
(22:39):
only kind of social club maybe there are a couple
of other things that but preson premasonry was the main
one and everybody in the community was part of it. Preemason.
I just look at my own lodge, which doesn't go
back two hundred and fifty years, goes back a little
bit more than one hundred and fifty years. But again
at the time the community was much smaller, but the
(23:02):
lodge itself was the social hub of the community. There
were balls, there were parties, there were carnivals held right
inside the I mean it's a big lodge, so it's
a big room, and you can get away with that.
But this is the sort of thing that happened right
from the start of America. And it doesn't matter if
your lodge isn't two an und fifty years old, like
(23:22):
my lodge isn't a fifty years old, but the legacy
of masonry comes with it. So you can go back
and just go to the roots of mason. I'll tell
you there's a story out of Jamestown, or Forrednia, the
first master of the lodge there. I think it was
about eighteen sixty, so again it wasn't going back to
(23:45):
the Revolutionary War, but he was a revolutionary War hero,
and I believe that his sons actually eventually became mayors
of Rochester and Buffalo later on. But you can see
in these early lodges in the early eighteen hundreds, a
lot of which you'll see throughout western New York or
throughout all New York. They were started by these Revolutionary
(24:08):
War veterans. How were they familiar with masonry. Well, the
whole idea of the military lodge, which wasn't invented by
George Washington or America, but it was refined by Washington
for the Revolutionary War to bring everyone together, to kind
of show them in real time, in real life, what
(24:30):
it meant to be on the level. Remember, all these
different war people, war guys came from different colonies, different
sort of customs, different sort of philosophies. You can't run
an army with everybody having these different ideas on how
to do. You had to bring them together. And this
is what Washington did. He brought them together through these
(24:51):
military lodges. There were traveling lodges. So that's not something
that you know, you can say, you can point to go, oh,
it's been in existence for two hundred and fifty plus years,
but it was an important element. When the war was
over and these veteran soldiers settled down in a location,
they wanted to recapture that spirit of community that they
(25:13):
found within the Masonic lot.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And that's been the story of Freemasonry from generation to generation.
As you say, from the very beginning. We saw a
huge spike after World War Two. After every conflict, you
have men that come back home that want to continue
that brotherhood and they find us real quick. Brother Chris,
I want to talk a little bit about America two
fifty and where you can learn more on the Craftsman
Online website. So if you go to Craftsman online dot com,
(25:36):
we have our America two to fifty page up. It
features a ton of the Grand Lodge of New York's
upcoming milestones and opportunity, So a nice little calendar for
you to check out to see what's going on. The
other neat thing is our Grand Laudge is put together
a festive board script so we all love getting together
for these big events, these table lodges. Afterwards, and if
you're planning on doing one for your lodge next year
(25:57):
in twenty twenty six, hey, you can hands this a
little bit more by going outside of our traditional table
ledge script and use one that is specifically written to
highlight America two fifty and gives you the opportunity to
plug in a quick little speech or story about a
piece of history that happened in your town, in your area. Again,
doesn't have to go back to the America Revolution. It
(26:19):
could be from the nineteen hundreds, or even you could
talk about two thousands if you wanted to get into that.
The other key thing is if you have an event
to share, your lodge is doing something special, your district
is doing something special, or your community is doing something unique,
and your lodge is all a part of it. Let
us know all at Craftsman online dot com by using
that America two to fifty page. Lastly, if you have
(26:41):
a brother or brothers in your lodge that are just
still kind of scratching their head as to like, what
is the big deal about the celebration, we have a
neat video that you can watch that kind of tells
the story of America two fifty so that we can
all be ready to go out, open up their doors
and start sharing the story of America and Freemasonry together
for two hundred and fifty years. One thing I want
(27:29):
to talk about with you, Chris, is that for too
often we've heard some real misconceptions about freemason. We've all
heard the stories of you know, the stuff you've see
now on YouTube, these conspiracy theories that are out there.
How can getting connected and working with the two America
two fifty initiatives, how can those moments kind of help
(27:50):
us overcome Sarah some of these still looming negative misconceptions
or stereotypes about our crap.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Well, I think really, right from the very beginning, you
will see that there were most Masons on both sides,
and like I mentioned before, they shared common ethics in
terms of how they treated one another. So Masonry in
essence transcended this military event that we call the Revolutionary War.
(28:20):
It wasn't really part of it. I mean, obviously it
was because everybody were a lot of people were Masons,
but people didn't meet within lodges to conspire and you know,
create the revolution. There's a lot of stories about the
Green Dragon Lodge, the tea party. Yeah, you know, people
(28:40):
when they are friends and they hang out in the
same place, you might as well say it was the
church that they all went to that caused this controversy. No,
it wasn't. It's just people. And I think really the
big thing is you'll learn really if you do your
research correctly and you learn the difference between mean, the
(29:01):
British form of Freemasonry which we evolved from, and the
continental europe form of freemasonry, you'll see maybe why these
ideas of conspiracy came about. What was going on in
Europe was very different than that what was going on
in Great Britain and the American colonies. As a historian,
(29:25):
you know, I'm just thinking all these things in my mind,
very fascinating, but I don't want to. I don't want
to get into it because we don't have a whole
lot of time to kind of explain all this For
the regular person, you know, it's just go and look
and see what really happened. Participate in some of the activities.
Doesn't have to be even within your lodge, just whatever
(29:46):
is going on with the community. In fact, i'll tell
you this coming October, we are having this is the
Publicly Appointed Masons of New York State. It's a group
with the New York State of publicly appointed Historians that
they have an annual conference this year. It's going to
be in Casanovia, right in the heart of New York State,
and I'll be leading a panel with Mason's Daughters of
(30:09):
the American Revolution Sons of the Americans Revolutions, talking about
how communities can bring these organizations together to celebrate America
to fifty. So that's another one we could think about.
You could think about, all right, our lodge might want
to be doing, but maybe we don't have any historical
experts in it. We don't need any. You just need
to know somebody who knows the local publicly appointed historian.
(30:33):
Every town, village, cities should have one, county should have one,
so you can go to them as a resource. You
can go to the Daughters of the American Revolution. They're
very good at putting on events and they're very interested
in doing this. I know. I just went through the
whole thing with Lafayette working with them. They actually took
the lead in that one. In some aspects that maybe
(30:55):
it's the Mason's term to take the lead in some
of these two fifty events. But no, out I bet
you the DAR has a lot of events planned already.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
I like think you bring up that point because of
all the lodges I visited from all across the country,
each one has a special story that makes it really
neat as part of the fabric of America's history, And
if they don't, the community that they live in does. So.
I like that you point that out where like, hey,
our lodge has been here for a while, but nothing
really special has happened in that amount of time. Well,
guess what. I'm sure your community has a story, and
(31:25):
the people that you live there you can help be
a part of sharing that. That's an awesome point that
you made there, Chris.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
I really just want to emphasize that here's an opportunity
for you to be a kid again. Everything that you
enjoyed about playing history, not learning history, about playing history
when you were a kid, you can do that all
over again. The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary takes away
(31:51):
any excuse you have from admitting that you liked history.
I know a lot of people sometimes are well, I
don't want to say I like terry history. That's just
for boring people. Nah, this is the two fiftieth You
get to play American Revolution and do whatever you want
to do. Like I say, whatever you like doesn't have
to be dressing up like soldiers and re enacting. It
could be you know, playing those little picnic games that
(32:15):
they used to play in the eighteen hundreds, putting together
a community event like that. Just having fun. Let's have fun,
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Hey, if you've enjoyed this episode and you want to
hear some more, make sure to follow The Craftsman Online
podcast on Spotify or subscribe on Apple Podcasts. And thanks
again to all of our Patreon subscribers who make this
podcast exist. Yes, we love you for trying to get
away from the ads and just get into more of
the programming. And I thank you, thank you, thank you
(32:47):
for helping us fulfill that mission of connecting men who
have an interest in the craft with Freemasonry. I'm right,
worshipful Brother Michael Larsa. Until our time together next Monday,
Let peace and harmony prevail.
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, Concordant Body, a pendant Body,
Asonic Authority, or Craftsman Online dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome back to the Craftsman Online Podcast, the only Masonic
podcast endorsed by the Grand Lodge in New York. I'm
your host, right worshipe, Brother Michael Arsa, and you've joined
us for an episode on our founding principles as we
get into freemasonries enduring legacy in America. We're gonna have
that conversation with Brother Chris Carosa in just seconds, but
before we get started, I gotta share this with you.
(00:49):
Over the summer, we started a push to get twenty
new Patreon subscribers on the Craftsman Online podcast. And there's
nothing that makes my heart smile more than to open
up my email box at six o'clock in the morning
and find this letter waiting for me. This message says,
hey there, Brother Michael Larsai, just wanted to thank you
for your podcast. I started listening to it about a
(01:09):
year and a half ago after I found out author
Angel Malar was talking on your show. I became a
regular listener and eventually started scouting out lodges in my area.
I eventually found one in my area and I like it,
and I petitioned and was accepted. I took my obligation
on the evening of August twenty first at Beaverton one
hundred in Oregon. Thanks again for your podcast, No, thank
(01:32):
you Brother Stark for sending this message, and again for
becoming our latest Patreon subscriber. Just five dollars a month,
you get access to our show's early ad free, and
you get the whole back catalog of all of our
subscriber extra episodes. Plus you get to help fund the
mission of this podcast, which is exactly what brought a
(01:52):
smile to my heart from Brother Stark's message. We're here
to help men who have an interest in Freemasonry get
connected with the craft. And nothing makes me prouder to
know that all the time and the hours we put
into producing. So whatever the episode was, whoever the guest
was we were talking to, and whatever it was we
were talking about that resonated with this man and led
(02:15):
him to continue his journey to join a Masonic lodge.
That's awesome and as a Patreon subscriber, that's what you
get to help us do. So thank you to all
of our Patreon subscribers and those who continue to join
us as we push to get twenty to close out
this fall. Let's look to what's coming up in the US.
You've heard us talk about the upcoming two hundred and
(02:37):
fiftieth anniversary I was better known as the America two
fifty celebration. We've reached out to historian Brother Chris Carrosa
from Union Star Lodge number three twenty. He's the senior
Warden of his lodge, getting ready to jump into the
big chair in the East, and he's gonna be talking
about some of the Grand Lodge of New York celebrations
for America two fifty and some of the special moments
(02:57):
we'll be highlighting with the American revel here in New
York State. But first, Brother Chris Carosa, welcome to the
Craftsman Online Podcast.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Hey, thanks for having me. It's great to be here.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Being so humble, I'm just the senior warden of Union
Star Lodge three twenty, just the senior warden, spoken like
a true senior warden. How long have you been involved
in masonry and upstate New York.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
I would say maybe five or six years. I don't
even remember. Okay, definitely before COVID.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Best of luck. This is the year you get to
watch the East. We've done a bunch of podcasts about
that leadership cycle. You're joining us under the America two
to fifty banner, which again you're a big part of this.
There's a huge committee across the Grand Lodge of New York.
It's a big state. We've got a lot of history,
and there's a lot of questions, I think from just
folks that might be tuning in hearing this for the
first time, what is America two fifty and what's the
(03:48):
big deal about this anniversary.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So if you're old enough, you probably remember the bi
centennial and all the fun stuff that happened when you
were a kid, you know, from a little high eating contests,
soap carving contests, spelling bees, all that sort of nostalgic stuff,
and it was great. Everybody loved saying the word bi centennial. Trains,
locomotives hated their locomotives in red, white and blue collars.
(04:15):
Cadillac came out with a bi centennial convertible El Dorado,
which was white but red and blue trind so it
was a big thing. Fifty years later, two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary. Can you say the word semi quinn centennial.
It doesn't roll off the tongue as easily, and I
think it makes it difficult for Peter, for people to
(04:37):
kind of embrace what this celebration is all about. But really,
when you get to the bottom line, it's just the
bi centennial plus fifty years, and we get to do
it for New York State in a way that kind
of reflects on how the province later state of New
York played, the role it played within the Revolutionary War.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So many stories to get to. I love the you
immediately took me back. I remember I am old enough
to remember the bi centennial. I remember the special quarters
that came out that year and how awesome they were.
And yes, like most people, when I saw the actual
of what two point fifty is in letters, I'm like,
I couldn't even pronounce that super califragil expialidocious word. So
(05:18):
thank you for kind of simplifying this. And there is
a lot to get excited about, not just for the
Grand Lodge of New York. But as you said, the
entire state of New York, our empire state. Outside of
being a freemason, you're also historians. So give me a
little significance as to the history of two fifty What
makes this so special for us?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
I just got done celebrating the two hundred and fiftieth
anniversary of Lafayette's travels through Western New York. I wrote
a book on that, specifically with the Western New York region,
and what I found as I was doing my book tour,
as I was involved in the bi centennial celebrations for
that event, people didn't even remember who laf Yet was.
(06:00):
The older people did, but too many people only know
Lafayette through the Hamilton Show. It's kind of disheartening as
a historian that it's not being taught the same way
it's that it used to be taught. For whatever reason,
maybe there's a lot more history, a lot more stuff
they have to kind of like compath into a school year.
(06:23):
But this is an opportunity for us to kind of
pretend like we're teachers and we learn ourselves what happened
during the Revolutionary War, but then actually share that excitement
that we had when we were kids. How many of
us dressed up as George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, or
even Paul Revere riding on a pretend horse, you know, say, hey,
(06:46):
the British are coming. The British are coming. And we
all know more about how that story was involved we
when we were kids, we probably didn't know Paul Revere
was a Mason. How much did we know about Mason's
and the Revolutionary War at that time when we learned,
And this is an opportunity from a Masonic standpoint to
kind of share that experience too, because when you really
(07:08):
look how America has created the country, that philosophy, which
derives directly from the Enlightenment, which was occurring right around
the same time, was shared with Freemasonry, and so in
a sense, Freemasonry was a crucible from which America is hatched.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I want to talk about two things you just brought up.
So one is the idea of America two fifty and
we all think of, oh, Declaration of Independence, Revolutionary War,
that's the birthplace of the country. But as you and
I kind of talked about before we hit the record
button here on the podcast, is that America two to
fifty is from that point all the way up until
like six months ago. And if you're listening to this
(07:49):
podcast when it's released, we're recording this in mid July
of twenty twenty five. America two to fifty. We still
have some time to get to that special moment when
it becomes real. Let's talk about how all of those
other parts of American history can relate to everyday Americans
looking to just be proud and celebrate. You don't have
to put the powdered wig on.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I talk about this to people with people all the time,
how we take certain things for granted. For example, words
like individual liberty, words and phrases like individual liberty, freedom,
personal property, all these things we say, oh, of course,
you know who would argue with that. Two hundred and
fifty years ago, that was radical thought. People didn't control
(08:35):
the government. The government controlled the people. Mostly monarchis control
the people. So for you to believe that you could
be on the level with those in charge of government,
that was heresy. You were hung if you thought that,
Especially in Europe, I mean, America was a little bit
more lenient because we needed everybody who was here. The colonists.
(08:59):
There weren't a lot of people here. We were really
forging a new kind of economy within the within the colonies,
and so we had to treat everybody the same. I mean,
it was just a practical sort of matter. So it
was a natural evolution for the colonies to kind of
move away from this idea of monarchy and towards this
(09:22):
idea of individual liberty and freedom.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And one of the things I think is unfortunate is
we had kind of talked about this as well, is
that politics always kind of creeps into celebrations or just
any part of our social happiness or joy that we
find here in the United States. We live in a
divisive country. It's been like this forever. Some people think
it's just recent, but you know, as a fan of history,
I know, you know, going back.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Yeah, it's like this for oh about two hundred and
forty nine years. You remember.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
You might not know, but.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
During the Revolutionary War, if they were to take polls
at that point, you would have found a third of
the people were Propatriot, a third of the people were
Tories loyalists to England, and a third of the people
were I don't care. I just want to live my life.
Does that sound like today? I mean, it does, doesn't it.
So in a way, this quote unquote divisiveness that we
(10:13):
have is a reflection on the American Revolution itself. The thing,
you know, here's an interesting point though, and again it
reflects on what Masonry is all about. During the Revolutionary War,
there are several cited cases where one side maybe defeated
(10:36):
the other side, and it didn't matter which side and
the defeated side, when you saw another Brother Mason on
the other side, you are more lenient and in a
couple of cases you actually saved their lives even though
they were the quote unquote enemy. They weren't the enemy.
The fact that they were a Masonic brother was higher
(10:57):
than the fact that they were on different sides of
the revels Lutionary War. That's an important concept to keep
in mind, and that's something that really we should share
with everybody. It's the utmost definition of civility. I know,
war can never be called civil, but here's an example
of brotherhood really overcoming this sort of political rift that occurred.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I've always said this on the podcast, and you'll appreciate
it as a historian, Chris, is that I feel if
you don't have a little bit of a history nerd
bug in you, you're really not going to fully appreciate
freemasonry because there's so much, as you keep alluding to
this American history that's part of it, from the signers
of the Declaration of Independence, from the founding fathers all
the way up until presidents and great men and communities
(11:43):
all across upstate New York or all across the great
state of New York and our country that just everyday people,
every day guys who were just good men who are Freemasons.
And I like the fact that each of our regions
across New York State, especially with our Grand Lodge, are
planning events and getting ready to celebrate milestones. And there's
tons of opportunities for lodges of all ages to get involved.
(12:05):
When I say ages, some of our oldest lodges to
some of our most recent lodges. Can you highlight some
of the special things that you know that's going on
in the Rochester and Buffalo area that you're getting excited
about for this coming year.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
Sure, well, I can tell you just across the state
there's about a handful of events that the Grand Lodge
will be involved with, specifically, including one that I think
is occurring before this show airs in July of twenty
twenty five in Saratoga. So we're working with the Massachusetts
Grand Lodge together because that was really an event that
(12:38):
involved both Massachusetts and New York. So that's one that's
already occurred. I'll tell you the big highlight's going to
be in November of twenty twenty six, and that's going
to be a ball at Grand Lodge. You should look
forward to seeing more on that. It's already got scheduled.
It's already the room is already booked. We're working on
(12:58):
exactly what that event event is going to entail in
terms of a cuisine, in terms of maybe speakers, or
even a walking tour. It's you know, we're in New
York City and there are elements within just the city
itself that are pretty reflective of both Masonry and the
(13:18):
Revolutionary War. Outside of the city region or the capital district,
We've got definitely a couple events occurring. One is to
honor the Battle of riskany outside of Syracuse. The other
is to honor really Joseph Brandt, who's part of the
Thomas Boyd's story. Thomas Boyd for those who don't know,
(13:41):
was a member of the Sullivan campaign who was viciously killed.
The detail of his death is accounted both from the
Patriot side as well as the Seneca side Seneca Indians,
and it's horrific, but it's also the story that I'm
(14:04):
going to tell in forthcoming book that I'm writing. Just
he was a twenty three year old guy who probably
did some stuff that he shouldn't have done in terms
of his scout. Not that he did anything bad or
say immoral, he just didn't do things correct by the book.
He was a scout, he was only supposed to bring
four guys out with him. He brought twenty. He made
(14:27):
a lot of noise, So that's what I mean about
not doing the right thing. And then finally he got caught.
Not everybody got caught. There were some people who got away,
but he got caught and he was tortured and killed.
And it occurred about say, maybe sixty miles or fifty
miles south of Rochester, in an area that now called Anetius,
(14:50):
and he was he was buried there where they found him.
Him and another guy by the name of Parker were
both killed, but Thomas Boyd was the one who was
really tortured, and they were later reinterred in Rochester. And
I believe that General Sherman was involved somewhere with that,
(15:11):
which is interesting. General Sherman, if you remember this is
Civil War history, now essentially did the same thing that
Sullivan did during the Revolutionary War, which is basically, you
want to it's a scorched earth kind of tactic where
you prevent the enemy from continuing the war. And whether
or not or how successful they each were, I mean,
(15:33):
that's the subject of that historians debate. But the key
thing is this with the Thomas Boyd thing, and this
is where I was reflecting before about how enemies sometimes
helped each other. Joseph Brant, he was a chief of
the Mohawk Truck and they were allies with the British.
He was a Mason, and Thomas Boyd gave the Masonic
(15:56):
signal of distress, and Joseph Brant recognized and he said, okay,
we got to be nice to this guy. So he
in effect, at least for a moment, saved Thomas Boyd.
But Joseph Brandt left and the Tory ranger who was
also there, took over and he did not recognize what
(16:19):
Joseph Brant said did not honor that promise, and that's
why Thomas Boyd is killed. So we're going to tell
that story and reflect on how that really showed the
power of masonry, even though in this case it didn't.
There were other specific examples, by the way, in other
places in New York where it is documented that Joseph
France saved the lives of Patriot soldiers who were captured kidnapped.
(16:43):
One of the things to recognize is we don't have
When I say we, I mean Western New York doesn't
have a lot of Revolutionary War history. Other than the
Sullivan Campaign, which really just affected the lower portion of
the Western New York region. There's not a lot of
activity that occurred. The Iroquois fled to Niagara Falls, the
(17:09):
British held Niagara Falls. There were no really American Revolutionary
War battles at Niagara Falls or in that area. We
had a way to the War of eighteen twelve until
we got that, but you know, the sense of the
spirit of the revolution really did travel eventually to Western
(17:35):
New York. Remember, at the time after the Revolutionary War,
Western New York was still a frontier. There was no
settlement whatsoever until after the Revolutionary War, so people had
to do things. People had to come here. And it
was that Sullivan campaign that really opened up the eyes
(17:55):
for the Continental Army, that the soldiers in the army that, hey,
this is really prime territory to build farms, to build communities,
to build families. And that's what came, and a lot
of it. You know, you think of the Revolutionary War,
where you think of the American Revolution in that era,
you think of the town hall meeting primarily in New England.
(18:19):
You don't think of it that much, say in say
New York City or Albany, the parts of the colony
that were really settled. But once you got the settlement
out into the frontier, that whole town hall spirit kind
of was reborn. Maybe not as not as quite New
(18:40):
Englandish as it was in New England's but remember a
lot of these people who immigrated to western New York
came from New England, so they had that spirit. And
in fact, there was a there's another thing that happens
after the Revolutionary War that kind of propelled us to
creating the Constitution. It was Shay's Rebellion. It occurred in
(19:01):
western Massachusetts. It was sort of like the leftover philosophy
of the British governors. We're still there in Massa. We're
still there in Massachusetts even after America became America, in
Massachusetts became a state. So you had this little rebellion.
The guy Daniel Chaise, he's not buried in Massachusetts. He's
(19:21):
buried right down the street here in Western New York.
So that's the sense that the revolution, the spirit of
the Revolution, came to Western New York. And maybe that's
something that we need to celebrate too.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
I'm telling the story about the Revolutionary War, and yes,
you know that's the beginning of the two fifty and
we're going through all of the years and all the
history that goes with that. And what I get excited
about hearing is and again this is a kid. History
was always my favorite subject in high school. I loved
hearing the stories because they were true from the past.
But I can't wait to hear about what made New
(20:20):
York the Empire state, when the Erie Canal came into play,
and how that completely transformed a region. As you said,
that was considered the wilderness, which anyone who's gone out
to Buffalo I mean, yeah, there's still some woods out there,
but pretty well developed out in western and central New
York and all the way across the state. And then
each one of these towns is going to have a
(20:41):
story to tell. And here's the cool part is you
keep pulling us back into it. Is that freemasonry. We
were the needle and thread that was stitching all of
these communities and these stories and these moments together. And
here's our chance to open up our log room doors
and invite people in from the public and celebrate these
moments and share these stories. And that's the thing that
I would charge to brothers, And like yourself, I was
(21:05):
sitting here thinking this has got to be first America
two fifty. This is the second time you get to
be excited to celebrate our country and how great it is.
But you're also going to be master of your lodge
next year. I'm imagining like it couldn't have come at
a better time.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I'll tell you next year when it happens.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
But to my point is that you don't have to
be completely connected. And I think that's one of the
things that I hear brothers when they talk about America
two fifty. They have the stereotype of oh, well, you know,
it's just for those older lodges that have been around forever,
and they always get to be the special lodges because
they're the colonial era lodges. And true, they do have
a really special legacy and a really unique story. But
(21:45):
every lodge was a part of the history of the
fabric of America, and we all have a story to tell.
So don't just use your lodge meetings as the opportunity
to tell these stories. Try to come up with ways
to invite the public into your room, bring families and
give kids the chance to maybe write essays or draw
pictures or tell the stories through all of the generations
(22:07):
that are there, and really return freemasonry back to what
it was and so many checkpoints across you know, our
history timeline here of just being an extension of the
community that we're in.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Remember two hundred and fifty years ago, when these communities
were first starting, there was no Chamber of Commerce, there
was no rotary club, there were no these sort of
civic organizations that blossomed in the in the area all
areas now, there was really only Freemasonry. Freemasonry was the
(22:39):
only kind of social club maybe there are a couple
of other things that but preson premasonry was the main
one and everybody in the community was part of it. Preemason.
I just look at my own lodge, which doesn't go
back two hundred and fifty years, goes back a little
bit more than one hundred and fifty years. But again
at the time the community was much smaller, but the
(23:02):
lodge itself was the social hub of the community. There
were balls, there were parties, there were carnivals held right
inside the I mean it's a big lodge, so it's
a big room, and you can get away with that.
But this is the sort of thing that happened right
from the start of America. And it doesn't matter if
your lodge isn't two an und fifty years old, like
(23:22):
my lodge isn't a fifty years old, but the legacy
of masonry comes with it. So you can go back
and just go to the roots of mason. I'll tell
you there's a story out of Jamestown, or Forrednia, the
first master of the lodge there. I think it was
about eighteen sixty, so again it wasn't going back to
(23:45):
the Revolutionary War, but he was a revolutionary War hero,
and I believe that his sons actually eventually became mayors
of Rochester and Buffalo later on. But you can see
in these early lodges in the early eighteen hundreds, a
lot of which you'll see throughout western New York or
throughout all New York. They were started by these Revolutionary
(24:08):
War veterans. How were they familiar with masonry. Well, the
whole idea of the military lodge, which wasn't invented by
George Washington or America, but it was refined by Washington
for the Revolutionary War to bring everyone together, to kind
of show them in real time, in real life, what
(24:30):
it meant to be on the level. Remember, all these
different war people, war guys came from different colonies, different
sort of customs, different sort of philosophies. You can't run
an army with everybody having these different ideas on how
to do. You had to bring them together. And this
is what Washington did. He brought them together through these
(24:51):
military lodges. There were traveling lodges. So that's not something
that you know, you can say, you can point to go, oh,
it's been in existence for two hundred and fifty plus years,
but it was an important element. When the war was
over and these veteran soldiers settled down in a location,
they wanted to recapture that spirit of community that they
(25:13):
found within the Masonic lot.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And that's been the story of Freemasonry from generation to generation.
As you say, from the very beginning. We saw a
huge spike after World War Two. After every conflict, you
have men that come back home that want to continue
that brotherhood and they find us real quick. Brother Chris,
I want to talk a little bit about America two
fifty and where you can learn more on the Craftsman
Online website. So if you go to Craftsman online dot com,
(25:36):
we have our America two to fifty page up. It
features a ton of the Grand Lodge of New York's
upcoming milestones and opportunity, So a nice little calendar for
you to check out to see what's going on. The
other neat thing is our Grand Laudge is put together
a festive board script so we all love getting together
for these big events, these table lodges. Afterwards, and if
you're planning on doing one for your lodge next year
(25:57):
in twenty twenty six, hey, you can hands this a
little bit more by going outside of our traditional table
ledge script and use one that is specifically written to
highlight America two fifty and gives you the opportunity to
plug in a quick little speech or story about a
piece of history that happened in your town, in your area. Again,
doesn't have to go back to the America Revolution. It
(26:19):
could be from the nineteen hundreds, or even you could
talk about two thousands if you wanted to get into that.
The other key thing is if you have an event
to share, your lodge is doing something special, your district
is doing something special, or your community is doing something unique,
and your lodge is all a part of it. Let
us know all at Craftsman online dot com by using
that America two to fifty page. Lastly, if you have
(26:41):
a brother or brothers in your lodge that are just
still kind of scratching their head as to like, what
is the big deal about the celebration, we have a
neat video that you can watch that kind of tells
the story of America two fifty so that we can
all be ready to go out, open up their doors
and start sharing the story of America and Freemasonry together
for two hundred and fifty years. One thing I want
(27:29):
to talk about with you, Chris, is that for too
often we've heard some real misconceptions about freemason. We've all
heard the stories of you know, the stuff you've see
now on YouTube, these conspiracy theories that are out there.
How can getting connected and working with the two America
two fifty initiatives, how can those moments kind of help
(27:50):
us overcome Sarah some of these still looming negative misconceptions
or stereotypes about our crap.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Well, I think really, right from the very beginning, you
will see that there were most Masons on both sides,
and like I mentioned before, they shared common ethics in
terms of how they treated one another. So Masonry in
essence transcended this military event that we call the Revolutionary War.
(28:20):
It wasn't really part of it. I mean, obviously it
was because everybody were a lot of people were Masons,
but people didn't meet within lodges to conspire and you know,
create the revolution. There's a lot of stories about the
Green Dragon Lodge, the tea party. Yeah, you know, people
(28:40):
when they are friends and they hang out in the
same place, you might as well say it was the
church that they all went to that caused this controversy. No,
it wasn't. It's just people. And I think really the
big thing is you'll learn really if you do your
research correctly and you learn the difference between mean, the
(29:01):
British form of Freemasonry which we evolved from, and the
continental europe form of freemasonry, you'll see maybe why these
ideas of conspiracy came about. What was going on in
Europe was very different than that what was going on
in Great Britain and the American colonies. As a historian,
(29:25):
you know, I'm just thinking all these things in my mind,
very fascinating, but I don't want to. I don't want
to get into it because we don't have a whole
lot of time to kind of explain all this For
the regular person, you know, it's just go and look
and see what really happened. Participate in some of the activities.
Doesn't have to be even within your lodge, just whatever
(29:46):
is going on with the community. In fact, i'll tell
you this coming October, we are having this is the
Publicly Appointed Masons of New York State. It's a group
with the New York State of publicly appointed Historians that
they have an annual conference this year. It's going to
be in Casanovia, right in the heart of New York State,
and I'll be leading a panel with Mason's Daughters of
(30:09):
the American Revolution Sons of the Americans Revolutions, talking about
how communities can bring these organizations together to celebrate America
to fifty. So that's another one we could think about.
You could think about, all right, our lodge might want
to be doing, but maybe we don't have any historical
experts in it. We don't need any. You just need
to know somebody who knows the local publicly appointed historian.
(30:33):
Every town, village, cities should have one, county should have one,
so you can go to them as a resource. You
can go to the Daughters of the American Revolution. They're
very good at putting on events and they're very interested
in doing this. I know. I just went through the
whole thing with Lafayette working with them. They actually took
the lead in that one. In some aspects that maybe
(30:55):
it's the Mason's term to take the lead in some
of these two fifty events. But no, out I bet
you the DAR has a lot of events planned already.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
I like think you bring up that point because of
all the lodges I visited from all across the country,
each one has a special story that makes it really
neat as part of the fabric of America's history, And
if they don't, the community that they live in does. So.
I like that you point that out where like, hey,
our lodge has been here for a while, but nothing
really special has happened in that amount of time. Well,
guess what. I'm sure your community has a story, and
(31:25):
the people that you live there you can help be
a part of sharing that. That's an awesome point that
you made there, Chris.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
I really just want to emphasize that here's an opportunity
for you to be a kid again. Everything that you
enjoyed about playing history, not learning history, about playing history
when you were a kid, you can do that all
over again. The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary takes away
(31:51):
any excuse you have from admitting that you liked history.
I know a lot of people sometimes are well, I
don't want to say I like terry history. That's just
for boring people. Nah, this is the two fiftieth You
get to play American Revolution and do whatever you want
to do. Like I say, whatever you like doesn't have
to be dressing up like soldiers and re enacting. It
could be you know, playing those little picnic games that
(32:15):
they used to play in the eighteen hundreds, putting together
a community event like that. Just having fun. Let's have fun,
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Hey, if you've enjoyed this episode and you want to
hear some more, make sure to follow The Craftsman Online
podcast on Spotify or subscribe on Apple Podcasts. And thanks
again to all of our Patreon subscribers who make this
podcast exist. Yes, we love you for trying to get
away from the ads and just get into more of
the programming. And I thank you, thank you, thank you
(32:47):
for helping us fulfill that mission of connecting men who
have an interest in the craft with Freemasonry. I'm right,
worshipful Brother Michael Larsa. Until our time together next Monday,
Let peace and harmony prevail.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.