Union City Campus To Celebrate with Cornerstone Ceremony

Exciting news! On August 22, 2008, the Union City campus of the Acacia Creek Masonic Senior Living Communities will kick off the beginning of the campus’ vertical construction process with a Cornerstone Ceremony. All Acacia Creek Founders, their families, members interested in future residence at Acacia Creek, and Masonic Homes residents and staff are invited to attend. Officers of the Grand Lodge, the Masonic Homes Board of Directors, the Acacia Creek Board of Directors, and local dignitaries will also be in attendance. The ceremony will commence at 11:00 AM and will be followed by a celebratory luncheon.

The Cornerstone Ceremony is a fraternal tradition popular since colonial times. For nearly 300 years Masons have joined with communities throughout the United States to lay cornerstones and celebrate the construction of new buildings that are dedicated to the principles and values that Masons share. The dedication ceremony features the symbolic laying of the building’s cornerstone, which is said to support the entire structure.

The laying of a cornerstone illustrates the fundamentals practiced by operative masons to insure that a building has a solid foundation. The act of “squaring,” “leveling” and “plumbing” the cornerstone, as the first stone laid for the building “upon which all the other stones are aligned,” serves to insure that the building will be true in all three dimensions. It is traditionally laid in the northeast corner of the building and contains a time capsule to provide historical perspective for future generations to know about the times in which we live. The “jewels” of the three principal officers of the lodge are: Square for the Master; Level for the Senior Warden; and Plumb for the Junior Warden. These are found on the collars they wear in lodge and on the pedestals, or desks, at which they sit. The cornerstone ceremony used by modern Masonry recognizes the importance of these functions and is an impressive representation of how our ancient brethren worked.

Says Mike Neben, Acacia Creek Board of Directors Vice President, “This cornerstone ceremony marks the start of actual construction at the Acacia Creek Masonic Senior Living residences at Union City. We are excited to watch the progress of this new community and look forward to our Founders taking occupancy in about 18 months! The buildings will begin taking shape very quickly and the dream of many of our senior Masonic members will be realized in the near future.”

For more information about this exciting event please contact Dan Wiley of Union City’s Marketing Team at (888) 553-7555.

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