By SHELLEY HANSON

Times Leader Staff Writer

MARTINS FERRY — The public is invited to learn about “Cathedrals Built by the Masons” during a presentation at the Masonic Ohio City Lodge 486 at 6 p.m. May 2 in Martins Ferry.

Bruce Neal, lodge member, said author Russell Herner will talk about his book “Cathedrals Built by the Masons” at the lodge, located at 9 S. Fifth St. The lodge also is celebrating the Masons’ 300th anniversary this year and wants to invite community members to tour the Martins Ferry lodge and learn more about the group.

Refreshments will be served after the program.

Neal, who has been a mason for four years, said he wants his lodge to get involved in the community, which is why they are opening up their facility for the public to see.

“We’re not a secret. We’re a fraternity, just like any college fraternity — we just happen to be a lot older,” Neal said, adding there are 90,000 masonic members in Ohio alone.

According to information provided by Neal, Herner’s book includes drawings and color photography and “captures the magnificence of European cathedrals and the brilliance of the master builders and craftsmen who designed and built them.”

Neal said Herner’s presentation will include slides of the Cathedrals, in addition to some of the tools used to build such cathedrals during the 1300 and 1400s. Herner, a Mason since 1962, is the author of two other books, “Stonehenge: An Ancient Masonic Temple” and “Antique Ice Skates for the Collector.”

Neal said people are also welcomed to tour the Masonic Lodge, situated near the Martins Ferry Public Library. The lodge recently became a member of the Martins Ferry Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re renovating our basement. It’s my goal to make that a place that people can use for parties,” Neal said.

For more information, call 740-391-1252.