‘Visiting Quinta Essentia 500—and The Owl Shop’

    

‘Brethren, be clothed.’

Before the meeting last Saturday of Quinta Essentia Lodge 500 recedes into foggy forgetfulness, let me share a few details of a fantastic evening in New Haven.

No nightmares in The Elm City Club
on Elm Street.

I have wanted to get up there for a visit for a number of years. I met Bro. Jay at his home in the northeast corner of New Jersey and he did the driving—kind of a haul, actually—into Connecticut. The lodge meets inside The Elm City Club, a private, members-only establishment that originated, if I understand correctly, as the Graduates Club, a social space for Yale University people. Located on Elm Street, it is situated in the center of the campus area. Elm City is New Haven’s nickname.

The plan was for the lodge to meet, close, and then have dinner in the same room, but signals got crossed and we dined in a larger space that surely was the more comfortable option—although it was weird having the wait staff circulating about while our speaker was presenting. The lodge meeting was brief. Quinta Essentia gained one more brother, as Bro. Rodney, Master of Shakespeare Lodge 750 here in Manhattan, was elected to membership. Huzzah! (They employ a unique method of balloting, involving two ballot boxes, that I’ve never seen before.)

After the meeting, we enjoyed cocktails and a fine social hour together during which selected brethren proposed toasts to the six Masonic credos shown in the blue circle on the coin below. While the Magpie Mason drew Enlightenment, I was preempted by another brother who accidentally spoke on that subject before it was my turn. He did a better job anyway.

Worshipful Master Jonathan Glassman’s commemorative coin is a hefty two inches in diameter and about a pound and a half in weight.

Our keynote speaker was Chris Murphy of Vermont, who presented “The Traditional History: Freemasonry’s Foundational Mythos.” I envy gifted speakers, and Bro. Chris has the talent that eludes me. I didn’t take notes, but this was an explanation of how and why the Masonic Solomon’s Temple is not the same story as that found in the Bible. Our story differs and has many details, as you know, that are not Scriptural. I wouldn’t want to divulge too much here, but my take in one sentence: While we today do not accept the histories rendered in the Old Charges and by Anderson as accurate records, we should appreciate speculatively about how a Masonic DNA, divinely placed, nevertheless connects Adam to us. Just terrific!

Chartered in 2012, Quinta Essentia 500 is an Observant lodge. Read about that here.

History in a tobacconist. 268 College Street.

Before arriving at The Elm City Club, Jay and I visited The Owl Shop, the storied tobacconist and bar on College Street that also has been on my list of places to be. I’ve seen Life magazine photos on the web of Yale men at their pipe club and of tobacco tins displaying the Yale “Y,” and this establishment, which opened in 1934, is connected to those. They sell cigars, naturally, and the air inside was thick with smoking aroma. But it wasn’t hazy and oppressing. Two days earlier, I caught the new Linklatter film. In it, the lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) exclaims how he loves the smell of cigar stores, and the environment of The Owl Shop undoubtedly is the kind of thing he’s talking about.

Whatever air cleaner they use is inconspicuous. Only the ceiling fans are obvious.
Great place to relax, smoke, and drink.

We sat down, had a round of drinks (I enjoyed a Warsteiner Dunkel while Bro. Jay was fortified by a reddish tea), and shared a cheese board. No smoking, as time didn’t permit it, but I purchased an ounce of Harkness Tower, their Balkan house blend, to bring home. I’m going to try some tomorrow.

An ounce of Harkness Tower to go.

During the holidays, I’m going to try this rye.
100 proof! Zoinks!

A great way to spend a Saturday! Unfortunately, New Haven really is just far away enough to not be a frequent place to visit, but edified by this experience, I don’t know why I wouldn’t visit the lodge and smoke shop at least once a year.

     

‘Next month at Quinta Essentia 500’

    

I keep bumping into Bro. Jonathan, Worshipful Master of Quinta Essentia Lodge 500, at the MRF weekends, and that’s how I learned of this terrific event next month—and I’m goin’! From the publicity:

Quinta Essentia Lodge will hold a Stated Communication with a Festive Board featuring a discussion led by Bro. Chris Murphy, from the Grand Lodge of Vermont.

Saturday, November 15 5:30 p.m.

The Elm City Club

New Haven, Connecticut

Black Tie/$125

Join for the degree, followed with good food and drink, conversation and fellowship. $125 (not including drinks from the bar) per brother. RSVP to Junior Warden Brewer here.

Discussion, led by Bro. Murphy: “The Traditional History: Freemasonry’s Foundational Mythos,” to wit:

The entirety of the Craft hangs upon the superstructure of the Masonic legend of the building of King Solomon’s Temple. Despite being drawn from a Biblical context, including figures and places from the VSL, it is not a Biblical recitation; it is a distinctly Masonic narrative.

Although it is largely undiscussed in contemporary Masonic practice, within the classical era of Masonic development, that story of the three Grand Masters, was merely one “chapter” of a far larger mythos. The overarching story related that the Craft was conceived by God and placed, by creation, in the heart of Adam. That knowledge was passed through Adam’s son Seth, unto Enoch, Noah, and the builders at Babel. The likes of Pythagoras, Hermes Trismegistus, and Zoroaster were then linked in as Masonic brethren. From them, the Ars Mason was passed to the world’s greatest artisans and architects, to the monarchs of Europe, and ultimately to the Grand Lodges and unto each of us. The totality of this story—this narrative symbol—represents an unbroken chain of sacred, secret knowledge; and is widely referred to as the “traditional history.

Freemasonry is ultimately syncretic in its design, and calls upon its votaries to plumb the depths of its symbolic lexicon. As such, this traditional history represents everything speculative about our Craft. A discussion of this central myth (its distinct elements, its general contours, its traditional role in propagating Masonic self-concept, and its deeply esoteric nature) will make for a rousing and inspiring conversation among the Brethren and guests of Quinta Essentia Lodge.

Bro. Murphy, is a past District Deputy and past Grand Historian for the Grand Lodge of Vermont. He is the editor and contributing author of Exploring Early Grand Lodge Freemasonry (2017) and The Secret’s Kept Sacred: The Orations, Sermons, and Songs of Early Vermont Freemasonry (2025). In 2022, he was elected as a Fellow of the Philalethes Society, and is a frequent contributor to Philalethes: A Journal of Masonic Research and Letters. He has been a guest lecturer at Masonic lodges and events across the country, and makes a particular study of the esoteric underpinnings of 17th and 18th century Freemasonry.