Masonic Cemetery
Inscription:
Fredericksburg Lodge #4, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, organized as a lodge in 1752. They established this cemetery in 1784 and there are now approximately 270 graves within these grounds. Most are members and family members of the original lodge, but along the wall are the reinterred remains of the American Masonic Lodge #63, which had splintered off from Lodge #4, in 1799, but which did not last as an organization beyond the Civil War.
The many graves within the sandstone walls reflect the population that was part of Fredericksburg’s early development. Burials include people who came to Fredericksburg from England, Scotland, Ireland, Switzerland, as well as from other American towns such as Boston. Numerous members of the Lodge also fought in the American Revolution. The Masons clearly helped to found a community as well as establish a nation.
Research:
The Masonic Lodge No. 4 of Fredericksburg launched on September 1, 1752. (1) Masons trace their inception to London where, “the Grand Lodge of England,” in 1717 formed as a “modern Freemasonry,” and it is said to be “the oldest… fraternal organization in the world.”(2) By 1736, lodges had started to appear in North America.
Records show that in the initial meeting of the Fredericksburg lodge, there were thirteen members present, the location is however unknown. Initially the Lodge did not have a permanent meeting place, but “beginning in 1756 it met at the tavern operated by a brother of the Lodge,” and later on in 1762 it moved to the Market House, “what was then the most imposing public building in town.”(4) While the Fredericksburg lodge was established in 1752, it was not until 1758 the Lodge requested and “obtain[ed] a Charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland.”(5)
Later in 1777-1778, several lodges in Virginia coalesced to form the Grand Lodge of Virginia, which was “the first independent Grand Lodge of Freemasonry established in America.”(6) On January 30, 1787, Fredericksburg Lodge #4 was officially chartered by the Grand Lodge of Virginia.In 1784, the Fredericksburg Lodge received the Masonic Cemetery as a donation from James Somerville, who was “a Scottish merchant and early mayor of Fredericksburg.” (7)
Many distinguished people were buried in this property including scholars, soldiers, and mayors. The Fredericksburg Masonic Lodge #4 declares on their website, “This Lodge has established America’s oldest Masonic Cemetery in 1784, and maintains it to this day (with the help of the adjacent James Monroe Museum).” (8)
(1) Edmunds, Jeffrey G., “250 Years of Freemasonry in Fredericksburg,” Library Points Org. Accessed: April 21, 2018.
(2) Edmunds.
(3) Mehari, Milen, “Masonic Fraternity Symbol as captured in the Masonic Cemetery Historical Marker,” Digital image, 2018.
image is from the Masonic Cemetery State Marker
(4) Edmunds.
(5) Edmunds.
(6) Edmunds.
(7) Willis, Barbara P. and Felder, Paula S. Handbook of Historic Fredericksburg Virginia (Fredericksburg: Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, 1933), 27
(8) “History,” Masonic Lodge 4 Org. Accessed: April 21, 2018.