Blackstone Lodge No. 79 A.F. & A.M.

                                                             Blackstone, Virginia

A dispensation was granted on June 20, 1887, for Blackstone Lodge, known and Blacks and Whites. A charter was granted on December 14, 1887, for Blackstone Lodge No.79. The records do not reflect a permanent meeting place at that time. The Lodge appears to be an outgrowth of Blendon Lodge No. 93 located at Nottoway Courthouse. This Lodge was chartered on December 16, 1874 and became inactive on December 13, 1882.

The original officers of Blackstone Lodge No. 79 were:

E. B. Robinson                        Worshipful Master

J. M. Harris                             Senior Warden

E. F. Crowe                             Junior Warden

W. C. Robinson                      Treasurer

W. V. Adkins                          Secretary

F. R. Dillard                            Senior Deacon

J. H. Ryland                            Junior Deacon

William Irby                            Chaplain

J. D. Tunstall                           Tiler

Other charter members were: E. T. Adams, T. E. Epes, R. B. Epes, E. C. McCullock, R. D. Maben, I. O. Epes, J. A. Mason, Cralle Wilson, and Herman Jackson.

G. M. Boyd, steam printer, Petersburg, Virginia, published the first bylaws of the Lodge in 1889.

On September 5, 1889, a request was received from Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 for assistance in building a Masonic Memorial Temple in memory of George Washington, our first president and a Master Mason.

On Friday, July 1, 1992, Blackstone Lodge No. 79 assisted the Grand Lodge of Virginia in the laying of the cornerstone for the Blackstone Female Seminary at Blackstone. On September 5, 1893, the Lodge laid the cornerstone of the Bank-Masonic Military Building. This building was the first permanent meeting place for the Lodge. It burned in February 1964.

The Honorable Patrick Henry Drewry, Congressman from the fourth District, donated a picture of George Washington in full Masonic regalia to the Lodge on March 11, 1932. This picture is presently displayed on the north wall of the Lodge. Worshipful W. F. Bergman presented the Lodge with three gavels, which was a gift from Brother J. Newton Dunn, Major, United States Army, on October 13, 1944. These gavels were secured in Egypt and Palestine and were made from stone from the ancient quarries of King Solomon. A cabinet to store the gavels and other relics was given to the Lodge by Brother H. E. Tompkins on May 14, 1948.

Nottoway Chapter No. 175, Order of the Eastern Star received its charter on November 25, 1960.

On September 8, 1972, the Lodge voted to sell Brother William White several lots at the rear of the present building. On March 19, 1942, the Lodge voted to buy the second floor of the Old Citizens Bank Building. It was later sold.