Articles are indexed below these photos.   We are a very old Masonic Lodge founded in 1848.   Here are some photographs for your perusal.

Robert Brank Vance (1828-1899) Past Master of Mt Hermon Lodge and Past Grand Master of Masons of North Carolina. Born in North Carolina, April 24, 1828. General in the Confederate Army during the Civil War; U.S. Representative from North Carolina 8th District, 1873-85; member of North Carolina state legislature. He declined renomination in 1884, but took an active part in the Democratic campaign of that year, and in the following spring was appointed assistant commissioner of patents by President Cleveland. He also attained prominence in the masonic order as grand-master for his State, in the Methodist church as delegate to general conferences and the ecumenical conference in London in 1881, and as a lecturer and author. Died November 28, 1899.

Our Lodge is blessed with an extensive and comfortable Masonic library.

    

Visiting our past: Rediscovered photos... keep history alive
Rob Neufeld
February 8, 2010  (Reprinted from Citizen Times)

The story of the highest-ranking Mason in Asheville history (attorney Thomas Joshua Harkins, sovereign grand commander of the Southern Jurisdiction in the 1950s) came to light recently because of an interest in his library, enshrined for perpetuity in Asheville's Masonic Temple.

Mark-Ellis Bennett, an Asheville architectural restoration artist, was consulting for the Mount Hermon lodge about the temple when the master of the lodge at the time, Mark Bloomfield, gave him the full tour.   Bennett, a historian as well as a conserver, took an interest in the preservation of the library and its contents, and supplied this column with its first article about Harkins.

Subsequently, Bennett met with June Lamb, Harkins' grand-niece.  The relationship has resulted in the coming to light of photographs and an oil-on-canvas portrait of Harkins. Lamb's brother, Thomas Hugh Lamb, has offered to donate the painting to the lodge for placement in the Harkins library.

In the wake of the move of the Asheville-area Scottish Rite fraternal order from the temple to a Black Mountain location a month and a half ago, the Masons have decided to retain and maintain the historic structure at Broadway and Woodfin streets.

The blue lodge continues in its home, with the York Rite and the Order of the Amaranth.  The Thomas Harkins Library is ready to receive its gifts.

Thomas Harkins (center, standing), a 27-year-old lawyer in 1906, poses with his family after returning to Asheville with his wife, Roxy Seevers (left, in white), from Oklahoma, where he'd moved in 1901 for his health. (Courtesy Mark-Ellis Bennet and Martha June Lamb/Sp)

For more information about Thomas J. Harkins, see the "Famous Lodge Members" article below.

Articles dealing with Masonic Lodge 118 History:

Where the term "Mt. Hermon" came from.

Citizen Times newspaper article about Mt Hermon Lodge history

Building Trivia

Famous Masonic Lodge 118 Members through the Years

Lodge 160th Anniversary Celebration

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