The Traveling Man's road maps

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A friend on the Burning Taper MySpace site posted a cryptic comment asking, "Did you know there is a Boaz, Alabama?

Short answer: Yes, of course.

Long answer: There are actually towns called Boaz in Alabama, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico and Virginia. The one in Kentucky is in Graves County, the one in Missouri in Christian County.

But there is only one town called Jachin in the United States, and wouldn't you know it — it is in Alabama!

Having a few minutes to spare, I called upon the Miracle which is the Internet and found out there are towns called Hiram in Arkansas, Georgia, Maine, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Texas.

But oddly, again, there's only one Abiff. It's in Tennessee.

Ten states have towns called Mason: Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennesee, Texas and Wisconsin. And Iowa has Mason City.

Not content to stop here, I found out there are three states with towns named Warden: Louisana, Washington, and West Virginia, but only one state with a town called Deacon: Indiana.

Checking the other officer-names shows none called Master, but three called Masters, in Louisana, Colorado, and Missouri; two towns called Masterson, both in Texas; one called Masterson Mill, in Alabama; and one called Mastersonville, in Pennsylvania.

There is only one town called Steward, in Illinois.

There are no towns spelled Tiler, but ten spelled Tyler. They are in Texas, Minnesota, Washington, Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland and Missouri.

On a whim, I looked to see if there were any towns called Square. There are none, but there is Square Butte, Montana; Square Corner, Pennsylvania, and Squaretop, Oklahoma.

One state has a town called Compass: Pennsylvania.

Two states have towns named Level: Maryland and Nebraska.

There's a Plumb, Washington.

There's a Shibboleth, Missouri.

There's Ashlar Hill in Maryland and Acacia Lake in Texas.

Apron Crossing is in Arizona.

Two states have towns named Craft: Texas and Nebraska.

Illinois, South Carolina and Virginia are home to towns called Lodge.

There is a Red Lodge, Montana, but no town named Blue Lodge.

Towns called Solomon can be found in Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Iowa and Illinois.

There are ten U.S. towns called Temple, found in Texas, Georgia, Louisana, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Indiana.

There are two towns called Tyre, one in Michigan, one in New York.

Two states have towns named Light: Arkansas and North Carolina.

There are ten towns called Orient, in Iowa, Illinois, Maine, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Oregon and Pennsylvania, but only one state with a town called East: Tennesee.

Three states have Travelers Rest: South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. And Kentucky has one, too, but they spell it with two L's, Travellers Rest.

Oregon and Illinois have towns called Brothers, and there is a Brotherton in Pennsylvania, one in Texas and two in Tennessee. Plus Brothertown in New York and Wisconsin.

There's Masonic Home, Kentucky; Masonicville, Delaware, and Masonicus, New Jersey. And Masonry Peak in Montana. And ten states have towns called Macon: Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, North Carolina, Illiniois, Nebraska, Ohio and Virginia. Missouri's and Illinois' Macon is located in Macon County. Macon, or rather Maçon, is the French word for Mason. Macon, Georgia, is the home of the Grand Lodge of Georgia.

There are four towns in the U.S. with the word Freemason in them: Freemason Creek, in North Carolina; Freemason Islands, in Louisiana; Freemason Harbor, in Virginia; and Freemason Run, also in Virginia.

But the most interesting geographical fact I discovered was this secret: There is one town in the U.S. called Tubal. And one town in the U.S. called Cain. And they're both in Arkansas.

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I used MapQuest in my Map Quest. If you get different results using other software, please let me know. If you divine the Secrets of the Universe doing some wacky, mystical geometry involving ley lines, squares, compasses, secret codes and pendulums, let me know. And if you figure out if any of this means anything other than I have insomnia tonight, please let me know that, too.

Image: Man, if I gotta tell you who those two east to west and back again cool cats are, you ain't with it....
Tune: Ditto. Get hip, man.

Freemasonry | Masons | United States of America | Maps and Legends | Jachin | Boaz | Tubal Cain | Hiram Abiff | Masonic Word