In 1695, the Abingdon Plantation was constructed by Abingdon and John Alexander, in an area that would eventually become Arlington County in 1801. In the late 1700s, President George Washington’s adopted stepson, John, bought the Abington Plantation so that he could live closer to Mount Vernon.
Part of the ruins of the kitchen of the former Abington Plantation.
Today, the Abington Plantation is a set of ruins by the Reagan National Airport.
A historical marker, commemorates this Alexander family who built the plantation and for whom the City and the former County of Alexandria are named after.
In 1775, George Mason and George Washington worked together at Mount Vernon to write the Fairfax Resolves. This document, in addition to various other papers, laid the case for colonial Virginia’s independence from the English Parliament.
In 1747, the Town of Winchester, named after Winchester, England, is founded by Colonel James Wood after he revived a grant from Lord Fairfax. In 1748, George Washington, at the age of 16, makes his first trip to Winchester, as a land surveyor, while surveying lands west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A site in Winchester becomes Washington’s headquarters for land surveying. In 1752, Town of Winchester is charted by the Virginia House of Burgesses. George Washington’s establishes a headquarters in Winchester again when he commanded Virginia troops during the French and Indian War.
The first Freemason lodge of Fredericksburg, Virginia was the one which former President George Washington was initiated as a member of the Freemason Fraternal Order.
In April 1754, a Port Royal FreeMason Fraternal chapter was established as the Kilwinning Port Royal Cross Lodge. Soon after the establishment of the lodge, within the 1750s, George Washington attended multiple Freemason meetings held at the homes of Captain John Micou, John Pearsons, Patrick Coutts, Robert Gilchrist, and William F. Gray. In addition, the lodge also met at Ann Fox’s Tavern, Dorthy Roy’s Tavern, Leonard George’s Tavern, and in the second floor room of William Hamilton Carter’s store, some of those locations which Washington is also believed to had been in attendance for. There was never a Masonic lodge building established in Port Royal and in the 1855 the Port Royal Masonic Chapter rented a room within a building that the newly formed Atlantic Lodge No. 2 was also using.
Portion of painted canvas taken from original Kilwinning Port Royal Cross lodge and housed in the current Kilwinning Crosse Lodge in Bowling Green.
In 1881, the Port Royal Chapter of the Freemasons stopped having their meetings in Port Royal, after the Kilwinning Crosse Lodge, No. 2-237, A. F. & A. M. built in Bowling Green, Virginia. All of the Port Royal Chapter meetings were held in Bowling Green, Virginia were they still continue to this day. The Kilwinning Crosse Lodge is the oldest Masonic lodge in Caroline County, Virginia.
Masonic mural of George Washington painted by Allyn Cox within the George Washington Masonic Memorial in the 1950s.
After George Washington joined the FreeMason Fraternal Order he became members of the Fredericksburg, Virginia and the Alexandria-Washington lodges.
President Calvin Coolidge and his wife at the cornerstone laying ceremony in 1922.
On June 5, 1922, the cornerstone of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial was established. The memorial was built to honor the time that President George Washington spent at the Fredericksburg and Alexandria lodges. President Calvin Coolidge and former President William H. Taft, performed the cornerstone ceremonies in front of thousands of Freemasons.
Presently the temple hosts hundreds of artifacts in relation to former President George Washington. The top tower has stained glass windows and a suit of armor.
Author’s Note:
There are two additional George Washington Monuments, in the D.C. Metro Area. The first noumena was built in Baltimore and the other wine was built by the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
In 1754 George Washington moved into Mount Vernon Mansion with his wife Martha. The mansion sat within a plantation where Washington owned hundreds of slaves. George Washington lived at the mansion until his death on December 14, 1799.
