The Strongs, Master Masons

The Strongs were a family of English masons, members of one of the oldest and most respected professions in human history. Stone masonry has shaped civilizations for thousands of years, and builders were essential to everything from homes and bridges to castles, cathedrals, and entire cities.

Tradition traced the origins of masonry back to the ancient world, often to the legendary builders of the Temple of King Solomon. While such stories blended history with myth, they reflected a deep respect for the craft and its long lineage.

Medieval and early modern masons worked with remarkable precision, using geometry, measurement, and hands-on knowledge passed down through generations. Because their skills were valuable and not easily replaced, masons developed private systems: symbols, signs, and guarded methods to protect their work and ensure that only trained builders could claim mastery.

These traditions helped preserve knowledge at a time when books were rare and formal education was limited. Through stone, masons left lasting records of human ambition, belief, and cooperation, structures that still stand centuries later.

This story explores how craftsmanship, tradition, and secrecy helped shape the built world, and why the work of masons mattered far beyond the stones they set.

I include this lineage (click on book pages below) as an invitation to inquiry (and as entertainment for my grandsons, to whom these ancestors belong). My book, while planting seeds for a child’s future learning “connections,” explores how building with stone has connected us all from ancient times to today, along with the mysteries that surround the craft.