DeWitt Clinton Lodge No. 141, A.F. & A.M.

                                                             Goochland, Virginia

DeWitt Clinton Lodge No. 141 was originally chartered by the Grand Lodge of Virginia on December 13, 1825, and revived on December 14, 1846. It held its meetings at Cartersville, Virginia in the county of Cumberland where it continued to meet until 1975.

Throughout the period it was a small struggling Lodge and by the early nineteen seventies a large percentage of the regular supporting members were residents of Goochland County which did not have a Masonic Lodge within its boundaries.

In view of the driving distance to attend meetings and the fact that Goochland had no Masonic Lodge, the Brethren from that area started a movement to establish a new Lodge in that county.

At that time Cumberland County had two Lodges and after many discussions it was decided that, in order to preserve and protect the charter of DeWitt Clinton Lodge, the best solution might be to move the meeting place. After due notice to the membership a vote was taken which resulted in a move of the meeting place to Goochland.

Through the proper procedure the property owned by the Lodge at Cartersville was sold to Mrs. Mildred Blanton for the sum of $13,500.00. This was the starting fund for the current home of Dewitt Clinton Lodge. Brother W. Roger Meador donated a building site consisting of 1.95 acres on State Route No. 637 in Goochland County and a fund-raising campaign was launched.

Through private donations and the sale of the Cumberland property sufficient funds were raised to enter into an agreement with J. Monroe Johnson of Kents Store, Virginia, to construct a new meeting place. It was still necessary for the trustees to borrow ten thousand dollars in order to make the final payment to the contractor.

The new building was completed in 1975 at a cost of $28,400.00 for the bare necessities and the first meeting was held in August of that year. The annual mortgage payments were made largely by private donations and increasing the dues, earmarking the increase for debt retirement. Through the generosity of the widow of one of the most active fund-raising members, the mortgage was finally satisfied on March 2, 1981. Since that time improvements have been made in the facilities as funds have become available, which have been mostly by donations.