Abingdon  Lodge No. 48, A.F. & A.M.

                                                              Abingdon, Virginia

According to the earliest records the Abingdon Lodge had its origin “At a meeting held at the house of James White in the town of Abingdon, on October 3, 1796.” The record states that a dispensation had been given by the Grand Master of Masons in Virginia and the following were present: William King, Master; Daniel Murphy, Past Master; Robert Johnson, Past Master; Charles Carson, Past Master, and William Preston Skillern.

The officers were:

William King                           Worshipful Master

Charles Carson                        Senior Warden

William P. Skillern                  Junior Warden

The first Worshipful Master of this Lodge was William King, who was born in Ireland in 1769. He came to the United States when he was fifteen years old. He left $10,000.00 to the Academy established as a school for boys and continued as such until 1913, when it became known as William King High School. Abingdon Lodge laid the cornerstones for three different buildings on the same site, the last being on July 4, 1913 for William King High School.

On April 20, 1797, the charter and the bylaws were destroyed by fire, in the home of James Armstrong. The minutes were not destroyed; presumably because they were in the secretarys possession; there having been a meeting that night, and doubtless the secretary had taken the minute book to his home to write up the proceedings. A new charter was necessary, and it was issued August 25, 1797.

Each member was required to pay fifty-cents per month to the steward. In addition, certain fees went into his hands, and he provided the necessary refreshments. Fines were imposed, which the more recent bylaws do not contain. For failure to attend a stated meeting the Worshipful Master was fined one dollar; the Senior Warden seventy-five cents; the Junior Warden, Secretary, and Treasurer fifty cents; and all the other members twenty-five cents. By a later amendment to the bylaws members living fifteen miles from the Lodge were exempt from the fines. The bylaws were rigidly enforced, and remissions of fines were infrequent.  The Lodge did not own many aprons, and these were for visitors and candidates. If a member appeared in the Lodge without his apron, unless a valid excuse was given, he was fined fifty cents. Numerous fines were imposed under this bylaw.

For some reason no communications were held from 1815 to 1825, and from the records of the Grand Lodge of Virginia we find that the Lodge was reinstated in 1825 on payment of $40.00.

In December 1966, the newly installed Worshipful Master, Joseph Pickett Johnson, Jr., appointed a committee to find a suitable site for a new Masonic building. The committee located a site on Pecan Street and the Lodge directed them to purchase the lot. This lot was later sold after the Lodge had purchased the lot at 325 West Main Street.

Worshipful David D. Brown, Worshipful Master in 1971, approached each member of the Lodge about the possibility of erecting a building for the Lodge. A motion was made and unanimously approved to proceed with plans for a new building. The excavation began in November 1971, and the building was completed in 1971. Most Worshipful G. Hunter Jones, Jr., Grand Master of Masons in Virginia on October 29, 1988, dedicated it.