Masonic Rocks?

Hello to all,

I just joined this site because I have a few questions concerning the masons in early north america. Let me start from the beginning.

I met my wife in 1997 and her family had some interesting artifacts in their possesion when I met her that to this day baffle me.The artifacts in question are several small rocks that were stone but looked like masonic emblems that were obviously a necklacve of some kind.There was the head of john the baptist , an upside down V with a backwards G carved on it, a right angle,a star of david and one or two more that I cant remember right now.Also the rocks appear to have chunks of white stuff in them and the rocks are grey and for their size feel very light almost like lava rock but more solid.

Now I have been into conspiracy theories my whole life I am 33 now and the rocks werent that strange until I heard how the family came to own them. The story goes that in the early 1830's in Dover TN. my wifes family was building their house and were one of the first families in the area to their knowledge. Now the weird part,while clearing a field for farming they uprooted a very large tree and under this tree in the root system they found a stone box. They tried to find a way to open this box but the ended up breaking the box open with a sledgehammer and inside they found the rocks I have described.

The story goes that the tree was over 100 yrs old when they found it so that means that someone was a mason in Dover tn. before the united states was even formed.Of course they thought this was a bad omen(being rednecks) and that nobody wanted these rocks found or they would not have planted a tree where they buried them.Her family has had these rocks over 170 years and to my knowledge they never found out their meaning or use. My wife told me that her mother found a man who specialized in masonic history and she took the rocks to him to be evaluated but when she showed them the rocks they asked her to take the rocks and leave??

Strange I thought but all of this is being told to me I dont know for a fact the origins of these rocks. I have searched for over 5 years for a mason who might know something of old rituals that might have used these but I could find nothing.Does anybody know anything about these NO BS PLEASE. I am at work atm and I am going to take some pics of thes rocks and post them tonight.Please post anything you might think could help identify these.



Mod Edit: CAP title and format

[edit on 4/9/2007 by kinglizard]

Though I have no idea about the rocks or their origins, I believe this is an interesting story. I'd love to take a look at the pics when you get them up.

If a historian specializing in masonic things told her to leave, it makes me think that he thought they were faked somehow. Which brings me to the "upside down V with a backwards G". Are you sure this symbol didn't slip your mind and is actually a square, and compass encasing the letter G?

Breaking open the box with a sledgehammer? I have a feeling they also damaged the contents.. I'm afraid pictures will be the best way to determine what these stones mean.

Pics...must have pics...

I think there are people here who may be able to help you. Defo need some pictures though.

187specialist.tripod.com...


the above link will let you see the pics i took today and I know the date is wrong on my camera. It has been over a year since I even looked at these but the head is john the baptist supposedly. I tried to get a good shot of each one and only one rock has something on both sides. I did notice that 2 of these have a g on them one is reversed though. You can see two pieces that looked like they went to charms that have been lost through the years or destroyed I would guess. I took a picture with a greenback so you can see how big they are.

Holy cow this is awesome. Please don't let this be a fake!!!

Dude if this is real you have a really cool find.

Please tell us more about them. Where actually they were found, when, the box it was in..etc

Cory

this isnt a fake I know for a fact that my wifes grandmother had them since she could remember and she died in 1998 at the age of 101 so I know for sure they are that old but they look alot older. They were found in Dover TN like the story stated and the box was just thrown away when they found these I guess i can't verify that there was a box because I wasnt around and I am only telling the story as I heard it in 1997.

[edit on 9-4-2007 by 187specialist]

WHOA ! Nice pix. My initial thoughts is made by or for Indians or more likely a kind of Masonic folk art.



[edit on 9-4-2007 by RWPBR]

What a wonderful find. Please take good care of them.

I have seen a couple of carvings like two of them. One was a pendent representing Thor’s hammer, very similar to the T shaped one. The broken one with the reverse G is very like a stone printer’s block, if you try and trace around it and continue the broken lines out till they intersect it will probably resemble the Masonic emblem in reverse. Or possibly be a reverse image of the Star of David with a G in the middle.

The G in an upside down triangle, assuming the whole id for a necklace looks like a G in a trowel. Some or the others could either be Norse in origin or stylized representations of lodge embalms that were hand made.

Originally posted by 187specialist
My wife told me that her mother found a man who specialized in masonic history and she took the rocks to him to be evaluated but when she showed them the rocks they asked her to take the rocks and leave??

Strange I thought but all of this is being told to me I dont know for a fact the origins of these rocks.

Excellent story, and the pictures make it even more exciting, Is there anyone in your wife's family who could make sure that you are relaying the correct story, you know how stories can change thru generations, just trying to get as close as possible to the original.

I am not a mason or even tuned into the debate over their history and intentions, those debates get too heated for me, but I am interested in the history of North America and search for Indian artifacts, arrowheads, stone tools etc. in my spare time. If this story holds true then another chapter needs to be written.

I can't wait to see where this one goes, one thing that puzzles me is "why would that mason not be interested in these relics, mysterious IMO"

Thanks for sharing, I will be keeping an eye on this one!

Flag it!!

.... If interested....



[edit on 2007/4/9 by JacKatMtn]

This is really cool. Don't sell them or give them away they are probably worth something.

Would you be willing to take some more pics for us or was what you put up everything?

Cory

very interesting, thank you for bringing us this story and actual pictures to back it up. I'm quite facinated to know more of the origins of these artifacts and the symbols on them. hopefully they will mean something to someone who knows a thing or two about all this.

again many thanx, i will enjoy seeing some of ATS's information whores delve in to the mystery around these stones.

peace.

Great find!

My opinion is that these might be masonic but there's not enough there to be definative. The crossed Vs could be a square and compass, but it could equally be a native american symbol (see Helen Mirren's Tattoo thread). It looks like there is a square and a level, both designed to be hung around the neck like officers jewels. It also looks like there could be a star/sun with a moon? inside?. The upside down V with the G in it could be a trowel, which back in the 18th century was the symbol for the (Inner) Guard/Tyler. The rectangle with three bars might be from a side order called the Secret Monitor, but that order is not old enough to date that far back (that I know of). The top middle rock and the bottom middle two rocks could be anything, as could the head. So you might have some stone officers jewels!

I think, if your story is correct, that this is significant. You should take some higher quality photos and send them to one of the major masonic museums in the US, or to the Masonic Museum at Great Queen Street, London, and ask for advice. You can also email the higher quality images to me and I will make some private enquiries. U2U me for my email address.

Freemasonry has been practiced in the US since the earliest days, probably since the 1730s at a guess. But I have NEVER seen stone artifacts like this, and I've been around a bit . Jewels are almost always metal (with the exception of the WW2 years).

Please keep us all informed with your progress.

sadly my wife has lost both of her parents in the last five years and she only has one older sister in her family and she knows nothing about it because she ran away when she was a kid and never talked to her family much.This version of the story is what I was told by my wifes mother and this would have been about her great grandfather who found them.So it is what it is. But even after ten years the stones get my imagination running. Who buried these and why???

Trinity

From my family’s record Freemasonry has been in the US (at least in Virginia) since late 1600’s.

I dont really know much about masonic practices, but it almost sounds like their markers or stamps. espcially the backwards G and V one.

my .02$

128specaist

Sorry about your wife’s parents.

As for why they got buried, if you think about some of the early settlers. Wanderlust was not uncommon; there have been members of the craft on this continent since the 1600’s. It is not hard to think that one of those explorers was a mason, if he found it necessary to bury the chest to avoid it falling into unfriendly hands. In the period between the first settlers landing here and when masonry went public in 1717, if he was in circumstances where he was unlikely to survive, it would have been his duty to hide the items to prevent revealing his membership.

Could you be more specific about the location where the rocks were found?

[edit on 9-4-2007 by Masonic Student]

[edit on 9-4-2007 by Masonic Student]

This is really cool and everything man, but one thing comes to my head - as far as I know most people who try to find stuff out about the masons and actually get on the track of something important have a high possibility of ending up dead. If that is some important masonic artifact and you're posting it up online...I don't know man. Either way this is really cool.

Pics are great. Lol, when all science approaches fail take up the hammer.

Regards,
Maestro

Originally posted by maestro46
This is really cool and everything man, but one thing comes to my head - as far as I know most people who try to find stuff out about the masons and actually get on the track of something important have a high possibility of ending up dead. If that is some important masonic artifact and you're posting it up online...I don't know man. Either way this is really cool.

Pics are great. Lol, when all science approaches fail take up the hammer.

Regards,
Maestro

I beg to differ with that statement. From my experience I would expect massive support from the craft in finding out more about this. Especially if they are Masonic in origin.

Locating the find closer than the state of Tenn. would help.


[edit on 9-4-2007 by Masonic Student]

[edit on 9-4-2007 by Masonic Student]