Thursday, July 9, 2009

Two odd things



Wednesday evening's walk started near the intersection of Lindbergh and Country Club, a hodge podge neighborhood of quiet dead ends, little houses estimated on Zillow to be worth about 100K, and what surely must be the largest woodpile in Winston-Salem (the blog is convinced that the wood pile is visible on Google maps). We then crossed Country Club Road to look at a new development on Park Ridge Circle next to South Fork Park (about which more may be said in a future post) and strolled further down the street. This took us past the impressive Odd Fellows Clubhouse and a very odd abandoned chimney that appears to have once been part of a house. Although the Odd Fellows are certainly mysterious, it proved possible with a little online sleuthing to find out that they are a fraternal organization derived from societies formed in England in the 18th century. The organizing principle is one of Christian altruism - originally members supported other members in need, but now the focus is on community service, international charity, and on having the best possible float in the Rose Bowl Parade (it's not possible to make this stuff up). The blog also learned that Winston-Salem is the site of what might be thought of as the North American mothership, the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, that the clubhouse is occasionally used for weddings, and that the largest African-American Cemetery in Forsyth County was supported by none other than the Odd Fellows. But the old chimney at the corner of the Odd Fellows property keeps its secrets...

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