About Us

A 2-story brick structure, six bays long, its door at the east end under a small hood, the Mt. Moriah Lodge began as a small 1-room schoolhouse. It was enlarged to its present size and height in 1804, when the petition of twenty-three of Lime Rock’s Masons for a separate establishment was granted. Free masonry has a long history in Rhode Island and in Lincoln. Throughout the 18th century there were intermittent efforts to organize lodges; by 1791, Masons in the urban centers of Providence and Newport had joined in the formation of a Grand Lodge. The membership of the Masons dropped off in the 1820s with the advent of a nationwide anti-Masonic movement, but anti-Mason sentiment had become less vehement by the 1840s, and the rolls of local lodges again increased. Like many Masonic lodges Mt. Moriah was an important local institution-included in its membership lists were the social and business leaders of Lime Rock. After this building in 1804, the school continued to operate on the first floor until it was replaced by the Wilbur Road School; the Masons acquired title to the building about 1870, and Mt. Moriah members still use the building for their meetings today.