Our home is an 1823 Greek Revival building designed by state architect William Nichols and built by John Berry. The building is a 40-foot cube with walls of solid brick.

Although Eagle Lodge has occupied the building since its construction, the hall also served as an opera house, unofficial town meeting hall, Civil War hospital and observatory for Burwell School students. Water damage led to the rooftop observatory's removal in 1862 but its stairs remain, as well as the building's original louvered shutters and paneled entrance doors.

Newsletters

Masons and the founding of UNC -- an article from the Grand Lodge of North Carolina

Read about the cornerstone laying at Old East presided over by William R. Davie, Grand Master of Masons in North Carolina

Click here for an article on Davie's gravesite and a description of the Masonic symbols found there

Lambskin Masonic apron worn at the laying of the cornerstone of Old East in 1793.

Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

To learn more about us, read the book!

The History of Eagle Lodge No. 19 AF&AM
By R.B. Studebaker and J. Frank Ray

Published in 1993
Hardbound, 2 vols. in one, 228 pages, with photos
Volume I: 1791 to 1937
Volume II: 1938 to1992

To order send $25 to:

History of Eagle Lodge
PO Box 1095
Hillsborough, NC 27278