In Sugar Grove, North Carolina Snow Masonic Lodge No. 363 was chartered.  That day in 1878 T.P. Adams presided at the Worshipful Master. J.W. Horton the Senior Warden, J.B. Taylor the Junior Warden, F.P. Mast, J.W. Smith, J.T. Shull, C.W. Farthing, A.S. Adams, B.J. Council,  J.P. Council,  J.N. Mast, J.S. Lewis, David Adams, G.W. Hayes, and Dudley Farthing were also in attendance.

The original lodge building still stands a few hundred yards from the Cove Creek intersection on old highway 321 and 603.

The lodge was held together during the great depression by Don Shull who paid the grand lodge dues from his own pension when others could not contribute. During this time the lodge in Boone, called Watauga Lodge #273, lost it’s charter in 1935.

In 1945 the membership who resided west of Rich Mountain voted to move the lodge to Boone in order to keep it alive. J.T.C. Wright, A.R. Smith, T.M. Greer, Russell Hodges, Clyde Greene, Lee Stout and Ed Clay were instrumental in accomplishing this move.

The first Location of the lodge on moving to Boone was to the Junior Order hall located above the Western Auto store on King Street, presently Watauga Savings and Loan The lodge rented the hall until 1949 when a hall was purchased from W.R. Winkler on the corner of King Street and Water Street. The building was secured “on a cost plus basis with 1/2 interest in the lot for $4441. The structure was roughed in and completed by the lodge. Mr. Winkler was very generous and did not add any profit and contributed valuable materials and assistance in the completion of the building.” The lodge owned an interest in a picnic area in Boone and sold it for $900 to help pay for the new building. The picnic area land is the mountain where the Appalachian State University student apartments are located now.

A new temple was begun in 1977 on land donated by Richard Winkler near the present Watauga High School on highway 105. The cornerstone was laid M.W. J.E. Watson, Grand Master of Masons in North Carolina. The master of Snow Lodge at that time was Robert Ward. The building was dedicated on Thursday, October 26, 1978 by M.W. Jacob C. Goodman, Grand Master of Masons in North Carolina while Ernest Dancy was master of the lodge.

Snow Lodge is proud to be the sponsor of Hope Chapter #1 of the Order of the Eastern Star. Hope Chapter was the first Eastern Star chapter in the state of North Carolina. Mrs. John F. Harden was the first Worthy Matron. “The chapter was chartered from Indianapolis. A young lawyer, John Morphew, went to Indiana and took the degrees and came back to Boone and organized Hope Chapter with about 30 members.” The charter was lost and Snow Chapter reclaimed the charter for Hope Chapter though the efforts of Ruby Weston and Melvin and Rosa Lee Norris in 1976.

Presently Snow Lodge enjoys a strong membership of approximately 240 blue lodge masons. The temple contains a large dining hall, kitchen, and lodge room. Future plans include the paving of Temple Drive, connecting the new parking lot with the Watauga High School driveway.

Respectfully,

• Greg Cooke, W.M.

• Brian Newell, S.W.

• Tom Templeton, J.W.

• August 21^st, 1986