Oriental Lodge No. 20, A.F. & A.M.

                                                              Mathews, Virginia

Eight men who were all residents of Mathews County founded Oriental Lodge No. 20 in 1868. It is believed that all but one of them were members of Botetourt Lodge No. 7 in Gloucester, Virginia.

On June 27, 1868, they were granted a dispensation to open a new Lodge at Mathews Courthouse to be called Oriental Lodge. The first meeting was held on July 11, 1868, with the following officers presiding:

John B. Donovan                    Worshipful Master

Peter G. Foster                        Senior Warden

James B. Thurston                   Junior Warden

On December 15, 1868, a charter was issued by the Grand Lodge of Virginia, for the permanent establishment of Oriental Lodge No. 20.

John B. Donovan, who was the founder and first Worshipful Master of Oriental Lodge, had served as Worshipful Master of Botetourt Lodge No. 7 for the two preceding years. At the time of the founding of Oriental Lodge, he was also serving as District Deputy Grand Master of Masonic District No. 2. He also founded Urbanna Lodge No. 83. Donovan Lodge No. 75 in Middlesex County is named for him.

Captain Andrew D. Armistead, a member of this Lodge, founded and commanded a unit made up of Mathews County men which was known and Armisteads Battery, Virginia Light Artillery during the War Between the States.

The Lodge purchased a building and land from an organization known as the “Good Templars.” This building sat several feet to the rear of the present structure which was built in 1961. The first recorded meeting in the new building was on November 10, 1961. The old building has been demolished.

Preserved in the Lodge are the original officers jewels, the old Bible, all of the minutes from the first meeting to the present, pictures of the earliest masters, and a tiler’s sword, which is of civil war vintage.