Secretary Sez

The history of Washington Daylight Lodge naturally includes that of the four lodges of which It is comprised, the oldest of them being Washington Centennial Lodge chartered on November 4, 1852, the hundredth anniversary of George Washington’s initiation into Freemasonry.

While we know the dates on which Washington received his degrees, “little is known of the Masonic record of General Washington from the time he received his Master Mason's Degree in Fredericksburg Lodge in 1753 until the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

However, considering that the closest Masonic Lodge was some fifty miles from Mount Vernon was his Mother Lodge in Fredericksburg, it is not surprising that Brother Washington was not a regular attendee or participant in Lodge functions there. The first Masonic Lodge in Alexandria was not chartered until 1783 by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania as Alexandria Lodge No. 39.

In the years following the American Revolution, American Freemasonry was disassociating itself from that of Great Britain and such Grand Lodges then in existence were busy reorganizing themselves. So, “in 1788 the Brethren (of Alexandria No. 39) desired to change their fealty from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania to that of Virginia. A charter for Alexandria Lodge No. 22, dated April 28, 1788, was signed by Grand Master Edmund Randolph designating George Washington as Charter Master.

In 1804, No. 22 petitioned the Grand Lodge of Virginia to perpetually honor the memory of their most esteemed Brother by having his name added to that of their Lodge, becoming as we know it today, AlexandriaWashington Lodge No. 22.