Town of Oyster Bay Town Historian John Hammond, who is also the historian of the Matinecock Historical Society, was the guest speaker at the October meeting of the Oyster Bay Chamber of Commerce, held at the Masonic Lodge on West Main Street. Mr. Hammond spoke first about the history of the Masonic Lodge, and second about the proposed Theodore Roosevelt Museum (The article on the museum was in the Nov. 1 issue of this newspaper.).

The chamber members were invited to listen to Mr. Hammond in the restored upstairs lodge room of the Matinecock Masons. After the Matinecock Lodge's 2003 fire, the Oyster Bay Masons were in need of new furniture. One of their members saw the furniture up for sale on the Internet. The furniture was manufactured in 1868 in Buffalo, NY, for the Lodge of Antiquity. The two lodges got together to arrange a deal. The Buffalo Masons were having a difficult time financially and ended up selling their building to a neighboring church, said Mason Deacon Tastensen.

"They planned to sell the furniture on eBay. One of our members saw it when we were looking to furnish the lodge. There was a TR connection with our lodge and theirs. TR was inaugurated in Buffalo as president after President McKinley was shot. TR was a member of our lodge."

The Buffalo Masonic Lodge of Antiquity was located on Delaware Street and was built in 1932. The furniture is solid black walnut. It came in pieces, about 50 to 70 pounds each. Three of the Buffalo Masons came to Oyster Bay to help put the furniture together. It is all made with pegs and holes. "It is remarkable, remarkable," said Mason Warren Obes. "It is part of the magic of Matinecock."

He said the rooflines had to be altered on the new lodge to accommodate the height of the furniture, which is on loan. "If we shut down then it goes back to them," said Mr. Obes.

Mr. Hammond said, in spite of some beliefs, Mansonry has nothing really secret. There are what he called "little rituals that are private," but he said, there is nothing secretive about the organization and members will duly explain anything. Looking around the room, he said, "They are mostly gadgets." On top of two tall wooden pillars are globes. One has a map of the world and the other has a map of the heavens.

He said, "Masonry raises a $1 million a day for charity."

Mr. Hammond said the Oyster Bay Masons first met on the second floor of a fish store. The first proposal on the slate was to move because of the odor. They moved a year and a half later to the second floor of what is now known as Gooseberry Grove on East Main Street. They stayed there until 1894 when the Oyster Bay Bank building was erected and then they moved there - to the third floor. "That was when Theodore Roosevelt expressed an interest in joining, as did Bill Swan." Mr. Swan is a distinctive member of Oyster Bay's history. He was the Commodore of the Seawanhaka Yacht Club and the organist at the First Presbyterian Church as well as a member of the Matinecock Masonic Lodge.

Mr. Hammond said that was just a few weeks after TR was elected as New York State Governor and that job delayed his involvement with the Masons. When he was elected as U.S. vice president, said Mr. Hammond, " since at that time the vice president had few duties, TR thought he would have a lot of time on his hands." But of course that all changed when President McKinley was shot and TR took office in September 14, 1901.

Tweed Roosevelt wrote in a bio of his relative on the TRA Internet site: "In between these busy enterprises, he found time to ranch in the West, hunt on several continents, raise a family of six rambunctious children, read a remarkable number of books (often one a day), write more than 35 himself, and develop an extraordinary network of friends and contacts, which he maintained mostly by mail, writing well over 150,000 letters."

At age 42, Roosevelt become the 26th president of the United States and was sworn into office at about 3:15 p.m. at the Ansley Wilcox Mansion, 641 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, the youngest man ever to become president (John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected to that office at the age of 43).

Mr. Hammond said when TR was president he attended meetings at the lodge. Mr. Hammond said TR liked the brotherhood of the Masons. For example, he liked it when he was told to "sit and be quiet" when his neighbor's gardener told him to do so. "Masonry put him, and his neighbor's gardener on an equal footing," said Mr. Hammond.

He said the current Masonic Lodge site on West Main Street was originally owned by James DeKay Townsend. It was bought by the father and son team of Andrew and Arthur Snouder in 1924 for the Masons. The recent October 2003 fire leveled the building. "It took a huge effort by the brothers and the trustees to reconstruct what we have here today," he said.

The Matinecock Lodge Masons again celebrated Oktoberfest during the 2007 Oyster Festival, said Deacon Tastensen. "We ran a child ID program on the front porch." They take the child's fingerprints and create a miniature video cassette and a printout to give to the parents. They do a video interview with the child and their parents to have a record of their mannerisms. "They ask questions such as 'who is your best friend and your favorite pet'? We did the ID program for about 80 children over the two days," said Mr. Tastensen. "It's all complimentary - there is no cost," he said. They did the same program at the recent Sea Cliff Mini-Mart.