Where should a Tracing Board be placed in a Lodge? Facing the entrance to the Temple so that any entering brethren will know the degree? Or facing the West, so that any entering brethren will know the degree before saluting?

Historically, when lodges assembled around a central dining table, the tracing board—then painted on cloth—was laid directly on the floor or hung on the wall while lectures were delivered to explain its symbols 1.

Earlier operative and early speculative custom involved drawing the principal symbols directly onto the floor in chalk, which was mopped off after an initiation 1. As these designs transitioned into permanent painted oilcloths, floor-cloths, or wooden boards, they continued to be positioned either lying upon the floor or supported on a trestle-table in the lodge room 1.