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Washington as Freemason now at area museum

By LAURA MOYER
The Free Lance-Star

Date published: 10/31/2002

THE FREE LANCE-STAR

An exhibit opening Sunday at the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center will celebrate George Washington's connection to Freemasonry.

The opening coincides with the 250th anniversary of Washington's initiation into the fraternity, which happened at Fredericksburg on Nov. 4, 1752. It's also the 250th anniversary year of the local lodge, Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4, AF&AM.

Twenty items in the exhibit are on a year's loan from the local lodge, which owns a large collection of Masonic artifacts with Washington connections.

The lodge has lent individual items to museums for specific displays but has never before released such a large group of objects for one exhibit, said lodge Trustee Rudy Griffith.

Among them are the Bible with which Washington was sworn in as a Mason, an original Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington, a lock of the president's hair and original minutes recording Washington's reception of the Masonic Degrees.

Also included are four Chippendale chairs used in Washington's day. One, the lodge master's armchair, "may be the finest thing ever built, furniture-wise, in Fredericksburg," said museum Executive Director Edwin Watson.

The exhibit includes a black-and-white Staffordshire punchbowl used by the Marquis de Lafayette on a visit to the city, and a wineglass used by the lodge in Washington's time.

The exhibit also includes three items from other sources.

One, lent by private collector Jerry Brent of Fredericksburg, is an ostrich egg scrimshaw--carved in honor of the lodge's 100th anniversary, in 1852. The carving depicts Washington wearing his Masonic apron, an eagle, a globe and several Masonic symbols.

George Washington's Fredericksburg Foundation is lending the Masonic jewel Washington wore.

Mount Vernon is lending a silver trowel with which Washington ceremonially applied mortar to the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.

The exhibit opens to the public Sunday and will be on display through September 2003.

Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Hours change in December.

Regular admission is $5 for adults and $1 for children. School tour groups are admitted free, Watson said.

The museum phone number is 371-3037.

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Date published: 10/31/2002