Freemasons' Arrowtown story ends
The curtain has come down on nearly 150 years of Freemasonry in Arrowtown.
About 50 Freemasons from throughout Otago and Southland went to the final meeting of the Arrow Kilwinning Lodge in its historic Wiltshire St building on Monday.
Its last 10 members will now join their Queenstown counterparts at the Lake Lodge of Ophir, based in their equally historic building in Marine Parade.
Member Kent Dow says the loss of Arrow Kilwinning Lodge's identity is sad, but its membership's dwindled to the point where it didn't make sense to continue.
"We need to share the load."
On the bright side, the move will boost the membership of Lake Lodge of Ophir to about 60.
Its numbers are on the rise, sustained by the Whakatipu's growing, multicultural population, Dow says.
The Heritage New Zealand-listed Arrowtown lodge building will remain in Freemason hands though, and they're on the hunt for a tenant for its front room to help pay for its ongoing maintenance.
The inner room, with its rare, hand-painted friezes and emblems depicting Masonic symbolism, will remain a "sacred space", he says.
Fellow member Edis Embil says Arrow Kilwinning Lodge was formed in 1878, with members travelling on horseback from as far away as Skippers, Macetown and Cardrona to attend the monthly meetings.
They met at a hotel for a decade until the Wiltshire St building was completed in 1888.
Lake Lodge of Ophir was established first, though, with the Marine Parade building completed in 1864, Embil says.
The oldest stone building in the resort town, it's also the oldest building in the country still in use by Freemasons.
Freemasonry has its origins in the medieval stonemason guilds of Europe, and is the oldest fraternity in the world, he says.
"It used to be thought of as a secret society ... it's a little bit more visible and transparent now."
Dow says the idea is to "make good men better".
"We're taught to be charitable in our personal lives, but we're fortunate to also be charitable as a lodge."
In the past two years alone, it's made grants of about $200,000 to local organisations.
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