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Scottish Rite Freemasonry - Welcome to the Supreme Council, 33°, Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, USA
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 Back to November-December 2008 Issue
The Shepheard’s Tavern Gavels
written by McDonald “Don” Burbidge, 33°
 Photo: Shepheard’s Tavern (Photo: Bro. M. E. Melcher, July 1928)
At 4:15 p.m. on September 23, 1924, Sovereign Grand Commander John Cowles, 33° opened the last session of the Supreme Council to be held in Shepheard’s Tavern. The Mother Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was organized in May 1801 in this historic building at the corner of Broad and Church Streets in Charleston, South Carolina. The final meeting at the site was covered by the local news media and attended by Scottish Rite Freemasons from around the world.
At the session on September 26, 1924, Deputy Samuel Cary Beckwith, 33° “gave a brief historical sketch of the birthplace of the Supreme Council,” and concluded with a presentation to Grand Commander Cowles of a wooden gavel made from a timber from inside Shepheard’s Tavern. This is the first documented gavel made from the wood of Shepheard’s Tavern.
In July 1928, before the building was torn down, each floor was carefully sketched and certain pieces of wood were marked to be saved for possible reconstruction at a later date. The sketches are marked “Brother Capelman and E.B.C.” These two brothers, otherwise unknown to history, carefully measured and sketched the rooms on all the floors. Thanks to them, we now know the dimensions of each room in Shepheard’s Tavern. One that could have been used for a lodge meeting was only 17' × 21'. Bro. E. Melcher took photographs of the rooms in July 1928 as a visual aid if reconstruction of the rooms should happen.
Wood saved from the tavern came from rail posts, doorframes, window frames, trim, baseboards, paneling, cornices, a fireplace mantel, steps, and a balcony. After the items were carefully documented, they were stored at the Charleston Museum located on Rutledge Avenue in hopes that one day the rooms could be rebuilt.
The next chapter in this story opens on Thursday May 3, 1934, at 3:30 p.m. Pythagorean Lodge No. 21, which met in the Wentworth House on 149 Wentworth St., Charleston, held an “Occasional Lodge,” and 67-year old General Charles Pelot Summerall was made a Mason at sight by Past Grand Master O. Frank Hart in full military dress. General Summerall was a hero of the Spanish-American War and World War I and had served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army. In 1931, General Summerall became President of The Citadel, the famed military academy in Charleston, and served for 22 years.
After receiving the Degree of Master Mason at sight, Bro. Summerall determined to learn the required catechisms, which he did in a very short period. Then four years later in 1938 he became the 83rd Worshipful Master of Pythagorean Lodge No. 21. During the years when Bro. Summerall was a member of Pythagorean, the membership rose to around 400 members and extra chairs often had to be brought into the lodge room so everyone could be seated.
Gen. Summerall next joined the Scottish Rite bodies of Charleston, S.C., were he was made a 32º Master of the Royal Secret on November 22, 1934. He soon took an interest in conferring the Scottish Rite Degrees, becoming an active member on different committees and assuming various stations as an officer. His advancement in the Scottish Rite was rapid. In October 19, 1937, he received the rank and decoration of Knight Commander of the Court of Honor and three days was coroneted a 33º, Inspector General Honorary.
In 1939 he was appointed Sovereign Grand Inspector General of South Carolina and an active member of the Supreme Council. Some later time Gen. Summerall found the wood taken from Shepheard’s Tavern stored at the Charleston Museum and had it relocated to the Citadel for safekeeping.
 Photo: One of the Shepheard’s Tavern wooden gavels. (Photo: Ill. Don Burbidge, 33°.)
In 1949, Ill. Summerall suggested that some of the stored wood be made into gavels and sent to each Lodge of Perfections in the Southern Jurisdiction. A committee was appointed to examine the wood and they reported that most of it was in a decomposed state and thus lost. There was, however, enough still available to make gavels, and Bro. Gore, 32°, who had a wood manufacturing company, offered to turn the good wood. He then created 200 gavels with a decal attached to the head noting the historic significances of the wood. After each gavel was turned, they were carefully placed in a protective box. Another inspection was made of the remaining wood, and an additional 100 gavels were made for a total of 300 gavels.
On October 2, 2001, then Grand Commander C. Fred Kleinknecht, 33° and Ill. H. Wallace Reid, 33°, then SGIG in South Carolina, were in Charleston for the bicentennial celebration of the Supreme Council. At the site of Shepheard’s Tavern, a monument stone was dedicated by Ill. Kleinknecht and Reid with one of the wooden gavels made by Bro. Gore in 1949. This gavel is now on permanent display at the Scottish Rite Museum in Charleston, S.C.
Scottish Rite Masons the world over owe a debt of gratitude to those Brothers who had the foresight to preserve the remaining wood of Shepheard’s Tavern as they did. It is through their prudence that today we can hold a piece of that building we hold so dear to our fraternity.
Bro. Burbidge dedicates this article to his long-time friend, fellow Mason, and Scottish Rite Brother, the late Ill. Harry Wallace Reid, 33° S.G.I.G. in South Carolina, May 1926–December 2002.
References
Lobinger, Charles S., The Supreme Council, 33, Mother Council of the World, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A. Louisville, Ky.: Standard Printing Co., 1931.
The News and Courier Newspaper, Charleston, S.C., May 1955.
The Voice of the Rite, vol. 4 no. 3 (Sept. 1924).
Minute books, Valley of Charleston, A&ASR, Charleston, S.C.
 McDonald L. “Don” Burbidge
was raised a Mason on November 19, 1975, and is currently a member and historian of Union Kilwinning Lodge No. 4, Scottish Rite, and York Rite, all of Charleston, S.C. Ill. Burbidge was strongly involved with and documented the 2001 bicentennial celebration of the founding of the Scottish Rite. On February 14, 1976, he received the 32°, on October 19, 1981, the KCCH, and on October 30, 1999 he was coroneted a 33°. Ill. Burbidge can be reached through his web site www.clansinclairsc.org/burbidge.htm.
*If anyone reading this article knows the whereabouts of a Shepheard’s Tavern wooden gavel, please photograph it and email the image and its location to Ill. McDonald “Don” Burbidge, 33° at . We want to register and document these important pieces of our history.*The Scottish Rite Journal (ISSN 1076-8572) is published bimonthly by the Supreme Council, 33°, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern Jurisdiction, United States of America, 1733 Sixteenth St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-3103. |
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