In the PNW, a Masonic Campsite as American Idyll

American Idyll

AT THE MASONIC FAMILY PARK IN WASHINGTON, A CAMPSITE FOR THE FRATERNAL SOJOURNER.

By Ian A. Stewart

Above: Cabins at the Masonic Family Park in Washington State are reserved for masons and their families.

Masons often say that the most important part of a lodge meeting comes afterward, bantering in the parking lot or over drinks at a local bar. That’s where the real magic happens, they insist—where lifelong friendships are solidified and put into practice. So you can imagine what it means to sit around a campfire with lodge brothers or throw a fishing line into a babbling creek together. Some people call it fellowship; others just call it hanging out.

In either case, that kind of R and R is best enjoyed in good company. At least that’s the idea behind the Masonic Family Park, a nonprofit campground in Granite Falls, Washington, maintained by and for Masons. The park is open to all Master Masons and their family members—including California Masons.

The camp sits on 245 acres of forest in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, 45 miles northeast of Seattle. The land was donated in the 1930s to the Masons of Snohomish and Island counties, and today the park is managed by a board of trustees, as well as the husband and wife caretaking team of Roy and Ellie Brooks, of Damascus № 199 and the Eastern Star’s Afton Chapter № 103, respectively.

The park is open from April 1 through October 1 each year; according to Ellie Brooks, its 30 campsites typically fill up for the Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day weekends. (The reservation fee is a modest $15 per night.) But the highlight of the year is the outdoor third-degree ceremony, which is staged by various local lodges. In alternating years, this is a “torchlight,” or nighttime, degree conferral.

Masonic getaways like this are not unheard of. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Paradise Park Masonic Club consists of 138 acres of redwood forest dotted by cottages owned exclusively by Masons and members of the Eastern Star. Meanwhile, Masons in Ohio operate a summer campground, while in central Florida, a similarly incorporated nonprofit runs the Masonic Park and Youth Camp on 200 acres. The Masonic Care Community of New York operates a seasonal campground for the fraternity in the Adirondack Mountains. There’s also the Masonic Family Campers, a nationwide group that organizes tent and RV getaways for members’ families—all of it further evidence of the enduring appeal of fraternal bonding time in the woods.

For more information, visit masonicfamilypark.net.