Return Service Requested
St. John’s Lodge, No. 1, F&AM
280 Bayside Rd
Greenland, NH 03840-2162
October 2015
Trestle Board
St. John’s Lodge No. 1
Portsmouth, NH
October 2015
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage Paid
Portsmouth, NH
Permit No. 7
The Master’s Message
The Doric Column
Greetings Brethren,
By the time you receive this we will have officially crossed that line known as the fall
equinox and be looking over our shoulder at a summer that has dug in and tried to
stay well after its Labor Day finale. Despite the warm weather the hints have been
there for a while that we were headed for autumn – the school busses started rolling
again; the days are getting shorter; the stores are loaded with Halloween merchandise
(and a few, dare I say, Christmas items); the “snow birds” are beginning to talk about
when the best time will be to head for Florida; you are seeing fewer license plates
from places you almost forgot were states; “locals” are daring to venture into the
downtown Portsmouth restaurant scene again; and lodges that go dark for the summer
are resuming meetings and activities.
You may have started to think about starting the snow blower or standby generator
because neither has been run for months, or “how much longer can I use the gas
grill?” Perhaps you are hoping you have given the lawn its final mowing for the season. Maybe you are debating as to if you should put away your summer shorts and T
-shirts and dig-out the jeans, sweat pants, and fleece “hoodies”. Perhaps you are
wondering if the “Pats” will have a “lock” on the Super Bowl by Thanksgiving. Most
likely you are no longer using your car’s air conditioning but you may be wondering
if the snow tires you have will make it through another season. Without a doubt you
are looking forward to getting that hour of sleep back that you were robbed of this
past spring by daylight savings time. And maybe, just maybe, you are thinking “ I
didn’t get to lodge all summer, maybe its time to get back and see what is going on!”
Brethren, St. John’s had a very busy summer this year and the autumn months promise to also keep us moving. We have a district inspection and visitation this month.
Degrees are scheduled right through to the end of the year. At least one “Masonry and
a Movie” night will be scheduled for fall. We are working with our sister Lodge St.
Andrews on the possibility of opening a small “lodge store” within the Portsmouth
Masonic Temple. A Christmas social for both lodges (St. Johns and St. Andrews) is
also being planned. Interest has been expressed in trying a Masonic book discussion
group. The 5K Road Race Committee is already working on sponsors and donors for
next year’s April race. Our Toys-for-Tots Committee has already launched its drive
with the goal of filling the two large boxes we put out in the entry way and auditorium for toy collection.
We also have some very important discussions coming up during our next several
stated meetings on operating budgets, dues structure, and ways we can help boost the
building O. & M. Fund (operation and maintenance) as well as the possibility of
forming a team of brothers who would be willing to help with some building maintenance.
……………. Continued from page 2
Continued on page 5………….
The Doric order originated on the mainland and western Greece.
It is the simplest of the orders, characterized by short, faceted,
heavy columns with plain, round capitals (tops) and no base.
With a height that is only four to eights times its’ diameter, the
columns are the most squat of all orders. The shaft of the Doric
order is channeled with 20 flutes. The capital consists of a
necking which is of a simple form. The echinus is convex and
the abacus is square.
Above the capital is a square abacus connecting the capital to
the entablature. The entablature is divided into three horizontal registers, the
lower part of which is either smooth or divided by horizontal lines. The upper
half is distinctive for the Doric order. The frieze of the Doric entablature is
divided into triflyphs and metopes. A triglyph is a unit consisting of three
vertical bands which are separated by grooves. Metopes are the plain or
carved reliefs between two triflyphs.
The Greek forms of the Doric order come without an individual base. They
instead are placed directly on the stylobate. Later forms, however, came with
a conventional base consisting of a plinth and a torus. The Roman versions of
the Doric order have smaller proportions. As a result they appear lighter than
the Greek orders.
The Ionic and Corinthian will be discussed next month.
Masonic Trivia
In 1891, the king of a foreign country, who was also a Mason, died unexpectedly while visiting the United States – who was he?
Answer for September trivia—The answer
to last month’s trivia is the Detroit Masonic
Temple in downtown Detroit, Michigan.
Built in the 1920’s, it is generally recognized
as the largest Masonic structure in the world.
Five Orders in Architecture
An “Order” in architecture is a certain assemblage of parts subject to uniform
established proportions, regulated by the office that each part has to perform.
The Architectural Orders are the ancient styles of classical architecture, each
distinguished by its’ proportions and characteristic profiles and details, and
most readily recognizable by the type of column employed. Three ancient
orders of architecture—the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian—originated in
Greece. To these, the Romans added two—the Tuscan and the Composite.
Elements
Each style has distinctive capitals and entablatures. The column shaft is
sometimes articulated with vertical hollow grooves know as fluting. The
shaft is wider at the bottom than at the top. The capital rests on the shaft. It
has a load-bearing function, but it primarily
serves an aesthetic purpose. The necking is the
continuation of the shaft, but is visually
separated by one or many grooves. The echinus
lies atop the necking. It is a circular block that
bulges outwards towards the top to support the
abacus, which is a square or shaped block that
in turn support the entablature.
Measurement
The height of columns are calculated in terms of
a ratio between the diameter of the shaft at its’
base and the height of the column. A Doric
column can be described as seven diameters
high, an Ionic as eight diameters high and a
Corinthian as nine diameters high, although the
ratios can vary considerably.
Greek Orders
There are three distinct orders in Ancient Greek
architecture; Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. These
three were adopted by the Romans, who
modified their capitals. The three Ancient
Greek orders have been consistently used in neo-classical European
architecture.
The Doric and Ionic orders seems to have appeared at around the same
time—the Ionic in eastern Greece and the Doric in the west and mainland.
Both the Doric and Ionic order appear to have originated in wood. The
Temple of Hera in Olympia is the oldest well-preserved temple of Doric
architecture. It was built just after 600 BC. The Doric order later spread
across Greece and into Sicily where it was the chief order for monumental
architecture for 800 years.
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Stated Communication—Open in EA
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
(Dinner 6:00, Open 7:00)
Dinner—Chicken Pot Pie ($8)
Officer dress—White Tie and Tails
EA Rehearsal for DDGI’s Inspection
All officers required to attend
Wednesday, October 14—7:00PM
Special Communication—Entered Apprentice Degree
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Inspection by DDGL
(Dinner 6:00, Open 7:00)
Seafood Chowder and Corn Chowder ($8)
Officer dress—White tie and tails
St. John’s Visitation (DDGM)
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
(Dinner 6:00, Open 7:00)
Dinner—To Be Announced ($8)
Officer dress—White tie and tails
Contact
Information:
Roderick MacDonald
Worshipful Master
[email protected]
(603) 436-4071
Robert L. Sutherland, Jr.
Secretary
[email protected]
(603) 828-5246
St. John’s Lodge
Historical Sketch
Roderick B. Nuckolls
The Saint Lawrence Seaway is the common name for a system of locks, canals
and channels that permit ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean
to the Great Lakes, as far inland as the western end of Lake Superior. Ships
enter through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and travel up the St. Lawrence River
past Quebec and Montreal into Lake Ontario, past Rochester, New York and
Toronto, through the Welland Canal to Lake Erie, past Cleveland and Toledo,
up to Detroit and into Lake St. Clair, through connecting channels to Lake
Huron, and then into Lake Michigan and either down to Milwaukee and
Chicago, or into Lake Superior past Sault St. Marie and over to Duluth,
Minnesota. This impressive seaway is 2,342 miles long and is an important
American and Canadian trade route. The size of vessels that can traverse the
seaway is limited by the size of the locks on the St. Lawrence River and
Welland Canal. There are fifteen locks in all, seven on the St. Lawrence River
and eight on the Welland Canal. All of them are filled and emptied by gravity.
Ships as long as 740’ heading west enter the locks one at a time. A large gate
closes behind the ship and water fills up the basin in about 10 minutes. The
front gate then opens and the ship continues forward. It takes about 45
minutes to get through a lock. Amazingly, the locks on the St. Lawrence
Seaway raise ships about 590’ above sea level (about the height of a 60-story
building) which just happens to be the elevation of Lake Superior. In 1959,
Queen Elizabeth II and President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally opened the
Seaway with a short cruise aboard Royal Yacht Britannia.
The construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway and especially its lock system, is
one of the outstanding engineering feats of the twentieth century. Similar to
the building of King Solomon’s Temple, the building of the St. Lawrence
Seaway employed laborers or bearers of burden; skilled craftsmen or fellows
of the craft; and engineers and supervisors or masters of the work. There were
22,000 workers employed on the Seaway project – one of the engineers was
Rod Nuckolls.
Roderick Battenfeld Nuckolls was born February 26, 1918, a son of Lesley
William and Laura Battenfeld Nuckolls. He grew up in Hanford, CA with his
brothers Ralph and Robert and his sister Katie. In 1937, he married Ethel
McClure and they had two boys, William and Richard. They lived in San Luis
Obispo, CA where he worked as a blacksmith in a welding shop. In the early
1950’s the family moved east to Messina, NY and Rod worked as an engineer
for the Morrison Knudson Construction Company. The Morrison Knudson
Construction Company was a civil engineering and construction firm that
designed and constructed major infrastructure throughout the world. They
were one of the consortium of firms that built the Hoover Dam and the San
Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, and yes, they built the locks for the St.
Lawrence Seaway.
In 1973, Rod married his second wife, Shirley Sue, with whom he spent the
rest of his life and enjoyed his extended family of five stepsons, two step
daughters, fifteen grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. In their later
years, the couple lived in southern Arkansas in a town called Crossett where
he was an active member of the First Freewill Baptist Church and where he
worked as a Pile Driving Supervisor for Ram-Fab, LLC, a pipe and tank
fabrication company. He died on September 12, 2002 at Morehouse General
Hospital in Bastrop, LA about 30 miles south of Crossett. He was 84 years
old.
Roderick Battenfeld Nuckolls was a good man, a good husband and father,
and a skilled engineer who helped design and build the lock system on the St.
Lawrence River that opened the sea trade routes into the Midwest. If you
guessed that this good man was a Freemason then you are right! You might
be surprised to learn however that Brother Rod was a long time member of
St. John’s Lodge, No. 1 in Portsmouth where he was Raised a Master Mason
on May 9, 1956.
Alan M. Robinson, PM
Master’s Message continued
As a layer of leaves ends the need to mow the lawn and golf clubs are taken
out of the car trunk to sit idle for the next five months I hope you can find
your way back to lodge - not just to participate or help with those tasks and
activities listed above, but to have that chance to meet up again with old
friends, make new ones, and enjoy the comradery.
Fraternally Yours,
Wor. Rod MacDonald
Worshipful Master