Portsmouth Naval Lodge No. 100, A.F. & A.M.

                                                            Portsmouth, Virginia

Portsmouth Naval Lodge No. 100, the Mother Lodge of Masonry in Portsmouth, Virginia was the first Masonic Lodge to be organized and granted a charter in this city.

Lieutenant Walter G. Anderson of the United States Navy called a meeting of the Masons in Portsmouth in the latter part of June 1814. They met in a house belonging to Captain Poulson in Gosport and proceeded to organize a Masonic Lodge, electing Lieutenant Walter G. Anderson as Worshipful Master.

It was named Portsmouth Naval Lodge because the majority of the members had been made Masons in Washington Naval Lodge No. 4, and not because a Naval officer was the first Worshipful Master, as many suppose. Lieutenant Anderson was installed Worshipful Master by Most Worshipful Robert Brough, Grand Master of Masons in Virginia, who granted the dispensation and afterwards signed the charter on December 14, 1814.

On October 24, 1824, this Lodge was visited by General Lafayette, the French General of Revolutionary fame, who was presented with a Past Maters jewel and was made an honorary member of this Lodge.

The first member of Portsmouth Naval Lodge to enjoy the great honor and distinction of being Grand Master of Masons in Virginia was Mordecai Cook, elected Grand Master and served two years from December 14, 1824 to December 12, 1826. During that period he served also as Worshipful Master of Portsmouth Naval Lodge, having the distinction of being Worshipful Master of Portsmouth Naval Lodge No. 100 and Grand Master of Masons in Virginia at the same time.

The Lodge was honored for a second time when Most Worshipful Clarence D. Freeman was elected Grand Master of Masons in 1941. He had been secretary of this Lodge.

Since its first organization the Lodge has been held in many places, namely: Drurys Hotel on Crawford Street, which was burned in the great fire of 1821; the Old French Lodge on the corner of County and Middle Streets, since pulled down; after that in the house occupied by L. W. Boutwell, Esq.; and then in a building on Middle Street. These were the meeting places of this Lodge prior to the building of the Masonic temple located on Court Street near High Street in downtown Portsmouth.