Masons' Hall

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Masons' Hall A world heritage Masonic site and National Historic Landmark. Masons’ Hall served as a hospital during the War of 1812.

Constructed in 1785 Mason’s Hall in Richmond is the oldest continuously used Masonic Lodge in the United States. Constructed just after the Revolutionary War from 1785-1787, Masons’ Hall is the Nation’s oldest continuously used Masonic building. Associated with many eminent figures, the distinguished building was completed under the leadership of Mason Edmund Randolph, a Founder, first Attorney General of the United States, and a governor of Virginia. Another devoted Mason, John Marshall, longest serving Chief Justice of the United States, played a decisive role in encouraging financial support for the project, later working at times from Masons’ Hall. Designed for a growing, young capital city, the Hall hosted many church, social, and civic events, and welcomed dignitaries, including Revolutionary hero, the Marquis de Lafayette. Richmond City Hustings Court was held here as were City Council meetings, and the Virginia delegation to the Constitutional Convention met in the Hall prior to traveling to Philadelphia in 1787. One of only a few surviving 18th century buildings in the City, it was guarded by Union forces against burning during the 1865 evacuation of Richmond. Masons’ Hall is listed as a Virginia Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places. It remains the home of Richmond-Randolph Lodge No.19 A.F.&A.M. and is occasionally opened to the public throughout the year for events and tours. Learn more about the history and how you can help restore it and become a Masons’ Hall 1785 Foundation member ($100 donation) at masonshall1785.org

Another memorable morning at Historic Masons’ Hall as we celebrated our second annual Randolph Marshall Day on Saturday ...
09/19/2026

Another memorable morning at Historic Masons’ Hall as we celebrated our second annual Randolph Marshall Day on Saturday September 19, 2026, commemorating the contributions of American Founding Fathers Edmund Randolph and John Marshall.

This year’s featured speaker was Jim Gilmore, the 68th Governor and 38th Attorney General of Virginia and former United States Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Governor Gilmore reflected on the legacy of Edmund Randolph—the seventh Governor and first Attorney General of Virginia, as well as the first Attorney General of the United States.

As leader of Virginia’s delegation to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Randolph introduced the Virginia Plan, which provided the initial framework for what would become the United States Constitution. His subsequent work on the Committee of Detail helped shape the powers and structure of the federal government. His support and continued involvement proved instrumental in securing its closely contested ratification by the Commonwealth of Virginia the following year.

Governor Gilmore also discussed the legacy of John Marshall, the longest-serving Chief Justice of the United States and one of the most influential figures in the history of the Supreme Court. He highlighted the important roles Randolph and Marshall played in the establishment and early history of Masons’ Hall and reflected on the influence Freemasons have had on our nation for nearly two and a half centuries.

In an age often marked by division and uncertainty, Governor Gilmore emphasized the stability that Masonic values can bring to our communities and country.

Matthew Maggy of Richmond Randolph Lodge No. 19 presented Governor Gilmore with a challenge coin featuring Edmund Randolph on the front and Masons’ Hall on the reverse on behalf of the Masons’ Hall Historic Preservation Foundation.

To support the ongoing restoration of Masons’ Hall, the oldest building in North America erected for Masonic purposes and continuously used for that purpose, please visit MasonsHall.org.

To learn more about our resident lodge and host of Randolph Marshall Day, Richmond Randolph Lodge No. 19, please visit RichmondRandolph19.com.

Clotworthy Stephenson, Masons’ Hall and the Masonic Cornerstone of the United States CapitolOn this day 233 years ago, S...
09/19/2026

Clotworthy Stephenson, Masons’ Hall and the Masonic Cornerstone of the United States Capitol

On this day 233 years ago, September 18, 1793, President and Brother George Washington laid the cornerstone of the United States Capitol in an elaborate Masonic ceremony. Standing among the Freemasons entrusted with conducting that historic occasion was an Irish-born craftsman with ties to Richmond and to the earliest history of Masons’ Hall: Brother Clotworthy Stephenson.

Stephenson was an original member of our resident lodge, Richmond Randolph No.19, and occupied the Junior Warden’s chair at its first meeting in 1787 shortly after the building’s completion. A skilled joiner—an accomplished craftsman specializing in architectural woodwork—he contributed to some of the most important buildings of the new republic. He executed interior woodwork for Virginia’s new State Capitol and is credited with work at Masons’ Hall, including the historic canopies above the officers’ stations that remain among the building’s most distinctive features.

Several years later, Stephenson went to the emerging Federal City and became involved in the construction of the United States Capitol. During its cornerstone ceremony, he served as Grand Marshal pro tempore of the Grand Lodge of Maryland. In that capacity, he helped lead the procession and presented the silver plate that was placed beneath the cornerstone before President Washington formally set it using the traditional Masonic implements of corn, w**e, and oil.

Stephenson’s place in the ceremony is commemorated in the monumental mural at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, where he is represented in light green on the right side of the scene. His story creates a remarkable connection between three historic landmarks: Virginia’s Capitol, the United States Capitol, and Richmond’s Masons’ Hall. More than two centuries later, the craftsmanship he left behind and the institutions he helped establish continue to bear witness to the life of an Irish immigrant, an American artisan, and a Freemason who helped build—both literally and fraternally—the foundations of a new nation.

The historical background is supported by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim, the Architect of the Capitol, and research published by the Chipstone Foundation.

Meet Samuel Moody: The Man Who Guarded Richmond's Reputation 🌾In 1789, Virginia's governor appointed a Pennsylvania-born...
09/14/2026

Meet Samuel Moody: The Man Who Guarded Richmond's Reputation 🌾

In 1789, Virginia's governor appointed a Pennsylvania-born Revolutionary War veteran to a job with real teeth: Inspector of Flour for the City of Richmond. Samuel Moody's stamp on a cask meant the difference between flour that could be trusted in the ports of Europe and the Caribbean, and flour that got seized at the dock.

Moody served as a lieutenant in the Lancaster County Militia before turning to trade, eventually settling in a Richmond that was just beginning to boom as Virginia's new capital. By the 1780s he was working the docks at Rockett's Landing and even selling imported French burr millstones, the good stuff straight from Philadelphia, to the mills shaping the city's economy.

His job wasn't paperwork. Before flour could be exported, millers had to swear it was pure and unmixed. Only then would Moody examine it, check the packing, and if it passed, brand the cask with Virginia's mark, the county, his own name, and the grade: Superfine, Fine, or Seconds. Get it wrong and the flour could be seized or forfeited outright. Virginia's whole export reputation rode on inspectors like him getting it right.

When he wasn't at the inspection posts scattered across the city (Rockett's Landing, the courthouse, the market house), Moody was building Bee Hive Plantation in Hanover County with his wife Sarah, raising two children, and running a working farm of livestock, weaving, and distilling.

He was also a member of Richmond Randolph Lodge No. 19, meeting right here at Masons' Hall, part of a network of merchants, tradesmen, and civic leaders whose word quite literally built early Richmond's economy.

Samuel Moody never became a household name. But trustworthy men like him, willing to stand behind their stamp, are why Richmond's flour trade became one of the new nation's great success stories and one its prime economic engines.

08/20/2026

A wonderful explanation from Brother Lafayette. Lafayette visited Historic Masons' Hall on his "Farewell Tour" on October 30th, 1824 in a joint meeting with several Richmond-based lodges. He was made an honorary member of Richmond Randolph Lodge #19 and their minutes book has his, his son George Washington Lafayette's, and his Secretary Lavasseur's signatures affixed to the bylaws as all members did at the time.

His portrait hangs proudly in our second floor foyer.

Learn more and schedule a tour at http://www.masonshall.org !

Stopped by the Grand Lodge, AF & AM, of Virginia Library & Museum today to check out some of the great new exhibits the...
08/13/2026

Stopped by the Grand Lodge, AF & AM, of Virginia Library & Museum today to check out some of the great new exhibits the museum’s curator has been putting together, and this mural immediately caught my attention.

Painted by Fran Gayle in 1978, The Heritage and the Challenge depicts scenes and figures from the history of Freemasonry in Virginia—and there, prominently at the far left, is Masons’ Hall in Richmond.

It was particularly meaningful to see Masons’ Hall represented as part of the larger story of the Grand Lodge of Virginia. For roughly 90 years, from the late 18th into the 19th century, Masons’ Hall served as the meeting place of the Grand Lodge and stood at the center of organized Freemasonry in Virginia.

Nearly 250 years after its construction, that connection is still very much part of the building’s story—and one we're working to preserve and interpret for the future.

Thanks to the Grand Lodge of Virginia Library & Museum for preserving pieces like this that help tell that much larger story.

Learn more at http://www.masonshall.org

Photo note: I couldn’t get far enough back to photograph the entire mural straight-on, so the panoramic image included here was AI-stitched from the two original photographs, which are also included in the post.

Born on this day in 1757, John James Beckley may be the closest thing the founding era had to Forrest Gump. He seems to ...
08/04/2026

Born on this day in 1757, John James Beckley may be the closest thing the founding era had to Forrest Gump. He seems to appear at one major moment after another.

Beckley arrived in Virginia from England at just eleven years old as an indentured servant. Through his extraordinary abilities as a clerk, penman, and political organizer, he rose to become mayor of Richmond and a member of Richmond Lodge No. 10, the lodge that constructed Masons’ Hall.

He served as secretary of Virginia’s convention to ratify the United States Constitution and, in 1789, became the first Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. When Congress approved twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution that September, Beckley engrossed and signed the official manuscript sent to the states. Ten of those amendments were eventually ratified and became what we know today as the Bill of Rights.

That means the signature at the bottom of one of America’s foundational documents belongs to a Freemason connected with Masons’ Hall.

And Beckley’s story did not end there. He became one of Thomas Jefferson’s most energetic political organizers, helped establish the working procedures of the new House of Representatives, and was later appointed the first Librarian of Congress.

Beckley never became one of the household-name Founders. Yet wherever the machinery of the new republic was being assembled, he was usually somewhere nearby—organizing, recording, campaigning, and, quite literally, putting pen to parchment.

John James Beckley is not one of the household names of the founding generation, but his signature remains on the document that sent the proposed Bill of Rights to the states. He was also a member of Richmond Lodge No. 10, one of the lodges that met at Masons’ Hall.

Not bad for a boy who arrived in Virginia as an indentured servant.

One of the questions we've been asked is, "What exactly is an Existing Conditions Assessment?"The answer is...a lot of c...
07/31/2026

One of the questions we've been asked is, "What exactly is an Existing Conditions Assessment?"

The answer is...a lot of climbing, measuring, documenting, and investigating.

This week Landmark Preservation Consultants have been examining everything from the attic framing to concealed floor systems, carefully documenting the building's condition. It's painstaking work, but this information will help guide preservation decisions for years to come.

Here are a few behind-the-scenes photos from the assessment in progress.

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1807 E Franklin Street
Richmond, VA
23223

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