North Star Lodge No. 8

Free & Accepted Masons

Lancaster, NH

square & compasses
chartered 1797


Upcoming Lodge Events for your Calendar

01 Sept 2009 7:30pm Fifth District Assn. Meeting in Lancaster
03 Sept 2009 6pm dinner 7:30pm Stated Communication
16 Sept 2009 6:30pm Master Mason degree rehearsal
19 Sept 2009 3pm Visitation of DDGM in Lancaster (joint with Gorham – includes dinner)
01 Oct 2009 7:30pm Stated Communication (dinner uncertain – call or check the website)
16 Oct 2009 6:30pm dinner 7:30pm 5th District Lodge of Instruction – Lancaster
17 Oct 2009 Veterans & Special Ladies evening joint with Gilkey Lodge – watch for information
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Worshipful Brother Andrew Earl Marshall passed from this life on 13 July 2009. At his family's request, the Lodge will offer a Masonic Memorial Service at the Bailey Funeral Home in Lancaster at 7pm on Sunday 19 July 2009.



Links_____Meetings_____Officers _____History_____Pictures_____Fifth District_____Calendar

Celebrating 200 years

bicentennial float

North Star Lodge meets in the Lancaster Masonic Hall, on the top floor of the Town Hall on Main Street. Stated Meetings are held at 7:30pm on the first Thursday of each month except July and August.

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New Lodge Pin!

lodge pin picture

Pins are $10. each - contact Junior Warden Jeremy W. Allin



2009 Officers

Worshipful Master: Ronald N. Crane
Senior Warden: Andrew E. Marshall, deceased 13 July 2009
Junior Warden:Jeremy W. Allin
Treasurer: Allvin L. Leonard
Secretary: Thomas A. Ladd
Chaplain: Robert A. Herman
Senior Deacon: Dennis A. Sheridan
Junior Deacon: Mark H. Blodgett
Marshal: Brian C. Doyle
Senior Steward: Harold W. Burns
Junior Steward: Richard R. Fadden
Historian: Aldine J. Tillotson
Tyler: David C. Howe

Representative to Grand Lodge: David C. Howe
Finance Committee: Brian C. Doyle
Finance Committee: Andrew E. Marshall

Click here to send an e-mail to all officers with e-mail.

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History of North Star Lodge No. 8

North Star Lodge was formed in 1797 by fifteen Masons (three of whom lived in Lancaster, the others living along the Connecticut River from Canada to the White Mountains) and granted a charter by the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire on 18 December 1797. The first lodge chartered after the Grand Lodge voted to number lodges according to seniority, it was given the number eight.

The surrounding country was an almost unbroken wilderness, and the roads were frequently only passable on foot or horseback. Due to these traveling conditions, the Lodge met for more than a century on "the Tuesday of the week in which the moon fulls in each month." They met in the afternoon and the light of the full moon assisted the men in finding their way home. The lodge met in Northumberland only until 1800, when it was given permission to move to Lancaster.

The Lodge met in a variety of locations until in 1884 it purchased the "old meeting house" which had been moved to the corner of Main St. and Mechanic St. This building was destroyed by fire about the turn of the century.

The present town hall building was constructed and jointly owned by the town and the North Star Corporation, formed by the various Masonic bodies using the building. It was dedicated on 17 July 1901 and a time capsule was placed in the cornerstone in the Northeast corner of the building. During the economic downturns of succeeding decades, the town became the owners of the building with the Masonic Fraternity occupying the third floor. In 1997, five Masonic Bodies, including North Star Lodge, meet in this Hall.

In its two centuries, North Star Lodge has been the "mother" to eight other lodges, in Colebrook, Lisbon, Littleton, Gorham, Whitefield, and Groveton, NH, as well as St. Johnsbury and Island Pond, VT.
On January 1, 2000, the members of White Mountain Lodge (Whitefield) rejoined their mother lodge.

Today North Star Lodge meets on the first Thursday of the month, electricity and automobiles having eliminated the need to meet by the phase of the moon. But none of the modern conveniences have eliminated the value of good men meeting together, in friendship and fraternity, to serve God and their fellow man.

"You will now be reconducted to
the place from whence you came"
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