Tumultuous coast

"Sunken Ledges'' (oil on canvas, c. 1910), by Charles H. Woodbury,  at the Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, Mass.

A civic temple's white over white

Photographer and New England Diary contributor Thomas Hook took this gorgeous picture after the recent snowstorm and reported: "This is King Solomon’s Lodge No. 7,  in Woodbury Conn., serving Freemasons from the local area. It appeared confidently at rest on its perch above all the messy snow and traffic along the busy street below. It was built in 1838 at the cost of $700.''

The Masons, while long ago  associated with anti-Catholicism and nativism, morphed into centers of healthy fellowship as well as of charity and other civic good works.  Sadly, they have faded as Americans have abandoned much of their once famous love of community organizations in favor of extreme individualism and self-absorption.