Mausoleum Hike at Roche Harbor

The McMillin Family Mausoleum was built by John S. McMillin as a memorial for his family, and for the things in which he believed. It incorporates symbols from Masonry, the Bible, and the Sigma Chi fraternity, all of which were important to him. He also incorporated his own views of family unity.

The structure is approached by two sets of stairs, representing the steps within the Masonic Order. The stairs on the east side of the mausoleum stand for the spiritual life of man. The winding in the path symbolizes that the future cannot be seen. The stairs were built in sets of three, five and seven. This represents the three stages of life (youth, manhood, age), the five orders of architecture (Tuscan, Doric, Iconic, Corinthian, Composite), the five senses, and the seven liberal arts and sciences (grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy).

The columns were created to be the same size as those in King Solomons temple. The broken column represents the broken column of life � that man dies before his work is completed.

The center of the mausoleum boasts a round table of limestone and concrete surrounded by six stone and concrete chairs. The chair bases are crypts for the ashes of the family, while the whole represents their reunion after death.

The construction of the mausoleum began in 1930 and was completed to its present state by the spring of 1936 at a cost of approximately $30,000. McMillin had planned to erect a bronze dome with a Maltese cross atop the edifice. He had ordered the dome, but his son, Paul, cancelled the order, as the company did not have the $20,000 it would cost.