Valley of Lower Delaware, AASR NMJ

05/18/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EhbuxSteg/

Due to the earthquake several years ago, extensive damage was done to the retaining wall surrounding the Memorial. This massive structure comprises 456,940 cubic feet of stone and concrete. All four corners of the wall have separated, and one of them is so fractured that, without intervention, a collapse will be inevitable.

Mortar erosion can be seen on all surfaces of the wall, where deferred repointing over several decades has allowed water to enter the wall’s internal structure. Freezing and thawing cycles then do damage to the wall's alignment and stability.

Finally, the wall must be cleaned. While it is made of the same stone as the Memorial itself, it no longer matches the Memorial in appearance. After all the structural repairs are made, we will restore this beautiful retaining wall to its intended appearance, returning the deserved nobility of the Memorial’s exterior.

Contributions to the Seal the Envelope campaign will provide much-needed support for our work to stabilize this wall and restore its appearance. Learn more how you can help: https://gwmemorial.org/pages/seal

03/14/2026

RSVP deadline moved up to Monday, March 16!

03/08/2026

RSVP Deadline moved up to Monday, March 16!

03/07/2026

Come out and enjoy our first Bingo Night. Spread the word!!!

02/09/2026

01/25/2026

📜 This Day in Masonic History – January 25, 1759

On this day in 1759, Robert Burns was born in Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland.

Burns wasn’t raised in comfort or privilege. He was the son of a self-educated tenant farmer, and much of his learning came at the knee of a father who believed education mattered—even when money was scarce. Reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography… all earned, not given.

By 15, Burns was already writing poetry. Not from ivory towers, but from the fields and farms where he labored. His first poem, “O, Once I Lov’d A Bonnie Lass,” was inspired by a fellow farm worker—proof that real art often comes from real life.

Hard times followed him. Failed farms meant constant moves, new communities, and fresh starts. Yet in Tarbolton, Burns found something important: fellowship. He joined a country dancing school, helped form the Tarbolton Bachelor’s Club, and sharpened his mind through debate and discussion—very much in the spirit of what Freemasonry would later formalize for him.

Burns lived a complicated life. He loved deeply, sometimes recklessly. He was married to Jean Armour and fathered many children, while enduring loss, hardship, and rumor. When desperation pushed him to consider work on a Jamaican plantation, a friend instead urged him to publish his poetry.

That decision changed everything.

In 1786, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (the Kilmarnock Edition) was released—and became an instant success. Burns went on to Edinburgh, fame followed, and his voice—plainspoken, poetic, defiant—found a nation.

He was initiated into St. David’s Lodge No. 174 in Tarbolton at age 22, becoming a Freemason not of ceremony alone, but of character: self-educated, truth-seeking, and grounded in the dignity of labor.

Burns died young, in 1796, worn down by illness and hard living. But his words outlived him—still sung, quoted, and remembered across the world.

A working man.
A thinker.
A poet.
A Brother.

That’s a legacy worth honoring.

🔨 Hashtags

01/24/2026

Golf FUNdraiser to support the Children's Dyslexia Centers, a Scottish Rite charity

01/11/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Ep92ndUZ2/

01/04/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18BfDRkVT4/