Tennessee Masonic Historical Library & Museum

Tennessee Masonic Historical Library & Museum Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Tennessee Masonic Historical Library & Museum, Nonprofit Organization, 100 7th Avenue N, Nashville, TN.

The Tennessee Masonic Historical Library and Museum serves as the heart of Masonic heritage in Tennessee safeguarding artifacts, archives, and the stories that define generations of Freemasonry.

This Day in Tennessee Masonic History — July 31, 1875On July 31, 1875, Brother Andrew Johnson, seventeenth president of ...
07/31/2026

This Day in Tennessee Masonic History — July 31, 1875

On July 31, 1875, Brother Andrew Johnson, seventeenth president of the United States, died of a stroke while visiting his daughter in Tennessee.[1]

Johnson had been initiated into Freemasonry in Greeneville on May 5, 1851, in what was then Greeneville Lodge No. 119, today Greeneville Lodge No. 3.[5][6] He would go on to serve as governor of Tennessee, United States senator, vice president, and, following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States.[1][3]

Following his death, Johnson’s remains were returned to Greeneville. His body lay in state at the Greene County Courthouse before his burial on August 3, 1875, on the hill overlooking the town that he had personally selected as his final resting place.[7][8]

At the crest of the hill, Tennessee Masons participated in carrying their departed Brother to his grave, where Masonic rites formed part of his final burial observances.[8]

Today, the site is part of the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery.

From a tailor’s shop in Greeneville to the presidency of the United States, Johnson’s life remains inseparably connected with Tennessee history. On that August day in 1875, however, he was carried to his final resting place as something simpler:

A Brother Mason who had laid down his working tools.

Sources

[1] United States Senate Historical Office, “Death of Andrew Johnson.”
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Death_of_Andrew_Johnson.htm
Confirms Johnson’s death from a stroke on July 31, 1875, while visiting his daughter in Tennessee, as well as his earlier and final Senate service.

[2] National Park Service, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, “Overview of Andrew Johnson’s Life.”
https://www.nps.gov/anjo/learn/historyculture/overview.htm
Provides biographical information concerning Johnson’s arrival in Greeneville, political career, and return to Tennessee after his presidency.

[3] National Park Service, “Andrew Johnson.”
https://www.nps.gov/people/andrew-johnson.htm
Documents Johnson’s Tennessee career, succession to the presidency, and Reconstruction-era presidency.

[4] United States Senate, “Impeachment Trial of President Andrew Johnson, 1868.”
https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/impeachment/impeachment-johnson.htm
Documents Johnson’s impeachment trial, acquittal by one vote, return to the Senate, and death in 1875.

[5] Greeneville Lodge internal historical documentation.
Confirms Andrew Johnson’s initiation into Freemasonry on May 5, 1851. This documentation is not presently available through a public online link.

[6] Greeneville Lodge No. 3, “History.”
https://www.greenevillelodgeno3.org/history.php
Confirms Johnson’s association with Greeneville Lodge in 1851 and identifies him as a Royal Arch Mason and Knight Templar.

[7] National Park Service, Andrew Johnson National Historic Site, “Photo Gallery.”
https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/gallery.htm?id=36E43EF7-1DD8-B71C-0702316A7F1DD5D9
Contains original funeral-related photographs from Greeneville dated August 3, 1875.

[8] National Park Service, “A Short History of the National Cemetery.”
https://www.nps.gov/anjo/cemeteryhist.htm
Confirms Johnson’s requested burial place, his burial on August 3, 1875, and the participation of Masons at the crest of the hill.

Happy 250th birthday to the United States of America, and to the idea that would go on to inspire free people the world ...
07/04/2026

Happy 250th birthday to the United States of America, and to the idea that would go on to inspire free people the world over.

Two hundred and fifty years ago today, on July 4, 1776, a small body of men in Philadelphia pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to a single radical idea: that a people can govern themselves.

Several of the signers were our brothers. The lodge was a place where rank fell away at the door, where a printer could meet a planter, and a silversmith could sit beside a general, all of them meeting upon the level and parting upon the square. Long before the first shot was fired, the Craft was already teaching the principles of a free people.

When the storm finally broke, those principles took the field. In Boston, Grand Master Joseph Warren dispatched Brother Paul Revere, who later became Grand Master himself, on his midnight ride. Then gave his own life two months later at Bunker Hill. Unverifiable legend holds that future Grand Master Prince Hall took up his musket and fought alongside his brethren at Bunker Hill. He dedicated his life to the service of his community and to the cause of liberty, holding the young nation to the very ideals its Declaration proclaimed, that all men are created equal.

Brother George Washington, who would one day lay the cornerstone of the United States Capitol in his Masonic apron and who served as Worshipful Master of his lodge while sitting as President, commanded the army. Brother Benjamin Franklin, Grand Master of Pennsylvania, won the alliance with France networking among the brethren of the Paris lodges.

Not every Founder was a Mason, but the Craft gave the cause its meeting places, its fellowship, and an abiding conviction that all men stand equal before the Great Architect and are answerable to a law higher than any king.

And when the war was won, it was Masons who carried that light over the mountains. General John Sevier, hero of Kings Mountain and the first Governor of Tennessee, became the first Worshipful Master of Tennessee Lodge #2 in Knoxville. Major John Baker Sr., wounded at Brandywine and a survivor of the long winter at Valley Forge, sat as the first Master of Western Star Lodge #9. In 1813, their lodges joined hands to raise the Grand Lodge of Tennessee, the same body we are proud to serve today.

So, as you mark this Fourth of July, remember that the republic and the Craft were built by the same hands. Two hundred and fifty years on, that legacy still stands.

The Tennessee Masonic Historical Library and Museum exists to preserve, protect, and promote the heritage of Freemasonry in Tennessee, to preserve the past, engage the present, and inspire the future. If your lodge holds an old apron, a charter, a minute book, or a story worth telling, we want to help you preserve it and share it.

The Tennessee Masonic Historical Library and Museum

As we prepare to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, we also mark the 250th anniversary of Prince Hall Freemasonry, f...
07/04/2026

As we prepare to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, we also mark the 250th anniversary of Prince Hall Freemasonry, founded one day before our nation. On July 3, 1776, one day before the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, Prince Hall organized African Lodge No. 1 in Boston, the first lodge of Black Freemasons in America. Hall and fourteen other free Black men had been made Masons the year before in a British military lodge attached to occupying forces in the city, and when those troops evacuated, the lodge gave them leave to meet on their own. Hall built something permanent out of that opportunity.

The men who signed the Declaration a day later proclaimed that all men are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights. Prince Hall, denied full standing in his own fraternity because of his race, spent the rest of his life pressing Massachusetts to live up to those words, through petitions for gradual emancipation, protection of free Black citizens from kidnapping into slavery, and the institution he founded that gave Black men in America a lodge of their own. His life reflects the same principles of liberty, equality, and human dignity claimed by both the Revolution and the Craft.

Today we stand in fraternal fellowship with our Prince Hall brethren across this state, sharing the same obligations, the same landmarks, and the same devotion to the Craft that Prince Hall himself gave his life to establishing.

Lafayette’s Visit to Nashville – May 5, 1825With the 50th anniversary of our nation's founding fast approaching, the Mar...
06/24/2026

Lafayette’s Visit to Nashville – May 5, 1825

With the 50th anniversary of our nation's founding fast approaching, the Marquis de Lafayette returned to America in 1824 at the invitation of President Monroe. He was welcomed as one of the last living heroes of the American Revolution. Among his most memorable stops was Nashville, Tennessee.

Arriving by steamboat on May 4, 1825, Lafayette was greeted by ringing church bells, cannon fire, cheering crowds, and none other than Andrew Jackson. The future president had long admired Lafayette, recalling the excitement he felt as a young boy when Lafayette first arrived to aid the American cause during the Revolution.

One of Lafayette’s first engagements in Nashville was a special meeting of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee. More than 300 Masons attended, representing lodges from across the state. During the meeting, Lafayette was elected an Honorary Tennessee Mason and is said to have remarked that the Masonic fraternity reflected the same spirit of union upon which the American Republic was founded.

The next day, Lafayette visited Jackson at the Hermitage. During their conversation, Jackson showed Lafayette a pair of flintlock pistols. To everyone’s surprise, Lafayette immediately recognized them. Nearly fifty years earlier, he had commissioned the pistols in France before sailing to America and later presented them to General George Washington while serving under his command in the Revolutionary War.
Moved to tears, Lafayette reportedly exclaimed, “Oh, my pistols! The pistols I presented to General Washington!”

After admiring the treasured relics, Lafayette returned them to Jackson, expressing his satisfaction that they were now in the hands of a man worthy of such a heritage. Years later, Jackson would leave the pistols to Lafayette’s son in his final will and testament.

The next day, Lafayette departed Nashville and continued on his final grand tour of the United States, leaving behind a remarkable chapter in Tennessee’s history.



____________________

These posts are part of an ongoing effort by the Tennessee Masonic Historical Library and Museum to preserve and share the stories of the great Tennessee Masons who came before us. The men whose lives we tell here built our lodges, served their communities, defended their country, and carried forward the Light of our Fraternity. Their stories are our inheritance. Our work is to make sure they are not forgotten.

Happy 230th birthday, Tennessee.On June 1, 1796, President and Brother George Washington signed the act admitting Tennes...
06/02/2026

Happy 230th birthday, Tennessee.

On June 1, 1796, President and Brother George Washington signed the act admitting Tennessee as the 16th state in the Union. The Volunteer State was born.

John Sevier, the first Governor of Tennessee, was also a brother of the Craft. In November 1800, while still serving as governor, he became the first Worshipful Master of Tennessee Lodge in Knoxville, the second lodge chartered within the new state. The first, St. Tammany Lodge No. 1, had been chartered in Nashville the year before.

From the statehouse to the lodge room, the men who built Tennessee believed the same principles that guided their fraternity, brotherly love, relief, and truth, could guide a free people. Two hundred and thirty years later, that legacy still stands.

Tennessee Masonic Historical Library and Museum

05/20/2026

Honoring the Great Masons of Tennessee: Most Worshipful Brother Anderson Lacy Price

Some men serve in one uniform. Brother A. Lacy Price served in two.

Raised a Master Mason in Pinson Lodge No. 222 in 1914, and later affiliated with Jackson Lodge No. 45, Brother Price went on to become a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army Reserve, to wear the two stars of a Major General in the Tennessee State Guard Reserve, and to sit in the East as Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in Tennessee in 1948. The Scottish Rite recognized his service to the Fraternity with the 33rd Degree, its highest honor. A respected newspaper man at The Jackson Sun, a military leader, and a devoted Mason, he gave his community and his country the same thing he gave the Craft: steady, principled service.

From the Grand East in 1948, he reminded his brethren:

"Never before in the history of man have the principles of Masonry been more needed than at the present time."

Nearly 80 years later, those words still ring true.

Brother A. Lacy Price stands as a timeless example of the virtues of Freemasonry: service, patriotism, leadership, and brotherly love.
____________________

These posts are part of an ongoing effort by the Tennessee Masonic Historical Library and Museum to preserve and share the stories of the great Tennessee Masons who came before us. The men whose lives we tell here built our lodges, served their communities, defended their country, and carried forward the Light of our Fraternity. Their stories are our inheritance. Our work is to make sure they are not forgotten.

A Life of Courage… and HonorReturn Jonathan Meigs Sr. was more than a soldier—he was a pioneer, a statesman, and a Freem...
04/15/2026

A Life of Courage… and Honor

Return Jonathan Meigs Sr. was more than a soldier—he was a pioneer, a statesman, and a Freemason whose life helped shape the early American frontier.

Made a Mason in Connecticut, Meigs carried those principles into every chapter of his life.
During the Revolution, he fought bravely and was captured in Quebec, later returning to lead a daring raid that destroyed British ships without losing a single man. He also fought alongside Anthony Wayne in a midnight bayonet assault. After the war, he helped found Marietta, Ohio, shaped the Northwest Territory, and later served under Thomas Jefferson as Cherokee Indian Agent.

His life intersected with some of Tennessee’s most well-known Masons including John Sevier, William Blount, and Andrew Jackson, often standing firm for peace and balance in difficult times.

But it’s how his story ends that defines him.
In 1823, when Chief Pathkiller arrived with nowhere to stay, Meigs gave him his own bed… and slept outside. He contracted pneumonia and died days later.

A final act of sacrifice.
Brother. Soldier. Peacemaker.
Return Jonathan Meigs Sr. lived a life of service and died the same way.

Image created by ChatGPT

A Forgotten Founder of Tennessee Freemasonry: Major John Baker Sr.Born in 1755, he answered the call of liberty during t...
04/13/2026

A Forgotten Founder of Tennessee Freemasonry: Major John Baker Sr.

Born in 1755, he answered the call of liberty during the American Revolution, serving under General George Washington, fighting at Brandywine (where he was wounded), and enduring the harsh winter at Valley Forge.
But his story didn’t end there.

In the 1790s, Baker moved west into what would become Tennessee where he helped shape a new frontier. He served his community, supported early education, and became a leader among pioneers. In 1812, he took part in founding Rhea Lodge No. 61 in Port Royal, later known as Western Star Lodge No. 9, serving as its first Worshipful Master and soon after helped lay the foundation for the Grand Lodge of Tennessee itself.

Soldier. Pioneer. Mason. Builder. Major John Baker Sr. represents a generation that didn’t just win independence, they built what came next. His legacy still stands today in Tennessee and in the Brotherhood he helped establish.

A President… and a Mason 🇺🇸James K. Polk wasn’t just a President—he was a Brother.Raised in 1820 at Columbia Lodge No. 3...
04/11/2026

A President… and a Mason 🇺🇸

James K. Polk wasn’t just a President—he was a Brother.
Raised in 1820 at Columbia Lodge No. 31 in Tennessee, Polk quickly rose through the ranks, serving as Junior Warden and later becoming a Royal Arch Mason. But in 1826, his Masonic journey paused… as his political career took off.
And what a rise it was.
Mentored by Andrew Jackson, Polk became Speaker of the House, Governor of Tennessee, and ultimately the 11th President of the United States.
In just one term, he reshaped the nation:
• Texas joined the Union
• The Oregon Territory was secured
• California and the Southwest were added
The United States expanded all the way to the Pacific.
But expansion came at a cost—fueling tensions that would eventually lead to the Civil War.
Polk worked tirelessly for his vision of America… only to die just 103 days after leaving office.
Brother. Statesman. Expansionist.
James K. Polk didn’t just lead a nation—he changed its destiny.

Address

100 7th Avenue N
Nashville, TN
37203

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 3pm
Tuesday 9am - 3pm
Wednesday 9am - 3pm
Thursday 9am - 3pm
Friday 9am - 3pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Tennessee Masonic Historical Library & Museum posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Tennessee Masonic Historical Library & Museum:

Shortcuts

Share

Category