Meridian Chapter U.D., Royal Arch Masons of Oregon

by Jeff Day

Today was a day of Masonic Parks. (Yes, more than one!) Tim Randall and I went out at 9:00AM to the old Patterson Masonic Park in Dixonville and helped set up the picnic tables for the summer. After that, we went out to Melrose and started working on our new Royal Arch Park.

I should probably explain why we're building a Royal Arch Park when there is already another Masonic Park so near. There are three main reasons. The first is that Patterson Park's actual Lodge Area is not large enough to accommodate the number which we hope to have in attendance when we invite all of Oregon York Rite (and beyond!) for an outdoor Royal Arch Event. The Lodge area at Patterson is also not large enough to facilitate the Royal Arch veil-working without being cramped for space. The second (and related) reason is that Patterson Park is its own corporation, with representatives from local bodies forming a Park Committee, and the Park Committee probably will not permit the type of changes which we desire to implement. The third reason is that Patterson Park is actually quite far from Roseburg and very difficult to find. Google maps says it takes 23 minutes to drive from Roseburg to the Park, I think it takes longer because you have to open and close several gates on a dirt road to get there. It only takes 16 minutes to get to the Royal Arch Park with a direct route and and no gates (yet).

Picture #1: We just finished taking off the top layer with the big grader. Tim has now brought in the excavator and starting working on the corner. We have to dig pretty deep in order to help achieve a sufficient amount of cover for privacy. We decided to take the west end down about 6 feet.

Picture #2: The area is beginning to take shape. You can't see it, but down the slope beyond the corner of the area being worked is a pond that we are thinking of using eventually as a source of water to help keep the Park green.

Picture #3 and #4: The deer came to visit us. I was surprised how close they would get to the heavy equipment while it was running. On the right hand side of the picture in the distance you can see a neighboring house. This is the closest house to the park, and we are going to build up the sides of the park as much as we can with dirt to create more privacy from the neighbors. A fence will also be put up around the area to block the line of sight from houses on nearby hills.

Picture #5: The place is really beginning to take on the proper oblong form.

Picture #6: At the end of a hard day's work, the sun is setting in the West, and Tim stands on the "Senior Warden's Platform" and checks to make sure it is square, level, and plumb.