Month: November 2025

Explore Masonic landmarks of San Francisco, Past and Present!

California № 1 has met in San Francisco since 1848—but that doesn’t mean it’s stayed put that whole time. In fact, the lodge had at least six different meeting places in just its first half-century.

In our latest online feature, explore historical Masonic landmarks of San Francisco, from the 1860 Grand Lodge Temple at Post and Montgomery to the Moorish Revival Islam Temple, described as an “elaborately eclectic fantasy.”
This is an interactive, time-traveling jaunt through the historic home of California Freemasonry.

Visit: maps.freemason.org/historic-san-francisco

Digging Up the Past at a Masonic Cemetery

This year, the Grand Lodge of California is working to uncover more local history contained within the small Jamestown Masonic Cemetery. Built in 1854, it served the membership of St. James № 54 until 1875, when the lodge disbanded. Today it’s one of two GoldRush-era cemeteries owned by Grand Lodge, which has set out to clean up and make repairs to the site, and to catalogue all known and unknown remains there.
So far, the effort has included using a canine forensic team to locate unmarked burials, developing boundary and topographical reports, and engaging a team of researchers to dig up the stories behind the burials including the mausoleum of John Pereira, one of Jamestown’s leading figures.
An early miner in the area, he later distinguished himself as an orchard owner, winemaker, and a real estate magnate. He built the Jamestown Hotel, where President McKinley once stayed, and helped establish the Sierra Railway depot, transforming Jamestown from a humble mining camp into a proper little city.