Local History Book Club – The Freemasons

May 14, 2025 Meeting of WCHS Local History Book Club 

 Washington County Historical Society’s Local History Book Club will meet from 12:30 to 1:30 PM on Wednesday, May 14, at the Sandy Hill Arts Center, 214 Main Street, Hudson Falls.  This building was previously a Masonic Lodge in the village. Historical society membership is not required for the book club.  

  Attendees will discuss the Freemason affiliation of important leaders of the Revolution, its impact on our currency, and the formation of the first Masonic lodge in Washington County.  Local focus will be on Adiel Sherwood as first Grand Master elected at a meeting in what is now the Old Fort House Museum in Fort Edward. Sherwood had been imprisoned by the British in Canada for more than two years after his capture at Fort Anne in 1780. An account of this early lodge can be found in The Fort Edward Book by Robert Bascom (1903), available online at Internet Archive. 

 Future sessions of the club will include books about the larger Adirondack area as well as works by local authors.  Upcoming topics include William Miller and the origin of the Seventh Day Adventists in Hampton; the path of Washington County’s 123rd Regiment in the Civil War; and the Battle of Bennington (fought in New York).  For additional information, email Connie Harris Farrington at connieandlee@roadrunner.com.