Giles Lodge No. 106, A.F.& A.M.

                                                             Pearisburg, Virginia

The Site upon which the Giles Lodge No. 106 stands was at one time the Pearisburg Academy Building.

According to the diary of James B. Johnston, Sr., there was a log schoolhouse on the public grounds on or near the site of the Masonic hall as early as 1809 or 1810.

An Act of the Virginia Assembly, April 3, 1839, incorporated the Pearisburg Academy Association. The building to be of brick with two rooms on the first floor for school purposes and a second floor which was used as a Masonic Hall.

When the Academy Association was disbanded, the Public School System used the building. During this time the Lodge continued to use the second floor for its activities.

Giles Lodge No. 106 was chartered December 15, 1854. Revived by the Grand Master on March 3, 1883. The Lodge has always met in the above-mentioned building.

The first officers of the lodge were:

Dr. W. W. McComas              Worshipful Master

George D. Hoge                      Senior Warden

James W. English                    Junior Warden

Past Master McComas was a prominent Doctor in Giles County, Virginia during the Civil War. The picture of Dr. McComas, which hangs in the Lodge, shows him in Military Uniform. He was Captain of a Giles County Artillery Company. He was killed in battle at South Mills, North Carolina.

In 1923 and 1924, the Lodge enlarged and remodeled the building incurring considerable debt. In December 1952, the note for the debt was burned and a clear deed presented to the Lodge. Prior to that time no money could be borrowed against the building because the Lodge had no deed to it. Now the property is debt free.