King Solomon’s Lodge #1 has been partially restored in the past, but urgently needs a thorough restoration now. The new partnership between KSL#1 and the New Bern Preservation Foundation promises to fully restore the exterior of this listed landmark.
You probably know that freemasonry began in the Middle Ages, but you may not know that the first Grand Lodge was only established centuries later, in 1717. In 1733, the first Masonic Lodge in North America was formed in Boston. It offered initiation only to free-born men, making most black men ineligible to join.
Not to be deterred, a free African-American man named Prince Hall began efforts to join the Masons in the late 1760s. Freemasonry attracted black freemen like Prince Hall because of its founding principles of truth, brotherhood, and taking action to benefit the community.1 Before the Revolution, Prince Hall and fourteen other free black men petitioned for admission in Boston, but were denied.2 They turned elsewhere.
On March 6, 1775, mere days before the “shot heard ’round the world” in Massachusetts, all fifteen men were admitted to Lodge No. 441 of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, which had a military Lodge in Boston. With revolution imminent, this was a courageous act. Only weeks later they enlisted in the Continental Army and took up arms against the British.
After the war Prince Hall made several attempts to win a charter from Lodges in our new nation, but again needed to turn elsewhere. On March 2, 1784, just six months after the end of the Revolution, Prince Hall applied to the Grand Master in London. He won the first African American Lodge charter from Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland,3 Grand Master in London and a member of the extended royal family―a Mason who apparently did not hold a grudge.
A century later, our King Solomon’s Lodge #1 was formed here in New Bern, authorized by the Grand Lodge of New York immediately after the Civil War. Our New Bern King Solomon’s Lodge was in the first group authorized and was the first in North Carolina. The four bay wood-frame building we now see on upper Metcalf Street was completed five years later. Before you call or write, we do know that the city lists the current address as Howard Street, but in reality that portion of the street north and west of Queen Street is part of Metcalf Street.
Illustrious black freemasons include Thurgood Marshall, W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Jesse Jackson, and Nelson Mandela, to name a few.
If you’d like to participate in the funding of the preservation effort, we have an immediate need for matching funds for one of the grants already awarded to the restoration team. We need a $20,000 match. Your donation of any amount is fully tax-deductible to the extent of the law.
New Bern Preservation Foundation, Inc. • www.newbernpf.org • info@newbernpf.org • 252.633.6448