by Sarah Becker ©2017 George Washington Masonic National Memorial What do George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette; Benjamin Franklin and Amadeus Mozart; W.E.B. Du Bois, Winston Churchill and Harry S. Truman have in common? All are Freemasons. Washington became a Freemason in 1752 at age 20 in Fredericksburg; then Worshipful Master of Alexandria Lodge No. 22 in 1788. “Brother Washington was, in Masonic terms, a ‘living stone” who became the cornerstone of American civilization.” “Being persuaded that a just application of principles, on which the Masonic fraternity is founded, must be promotive of private virtue and public prosperity, I shall always be happy to advance the interests of the Society, and to be considered by them as a deserving brother,” President Washington told Rhode Island’s King David’s Lodge in 1790. Stone masons, during the Middle-Ages and after, were among the most ethically correct of the local tradesmen. Freemasonry is the world’s oldest fraternal order, a brotherhood that combines talent, intellect and virtue. By 1733 the colonies had established at least three Masonic lodges: in Boston, Savannah, and Philadelphia. The order’s ceremonies, as novelist Dan Brown has noted, are shrouded in secrecy. Freemasonry is not a religion; it is a non-denominational order that borrows from religion. It is coincident with the Age of Enlightenment, a fraternity that emphasizes “personal study; the dignity of man and the liberty of the individual.” Freemasons worship as they choose. “It has been suggested that [George Washington] learned as a Mason to believe in a ruling Providence rather than an orthodox Christian deity,” biographer John R. Alden wrote. Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 meets regularly in George Washington Masonic National Memorial. A National Historic Landmark, the Memorial is located at King and Callahan Streets, atop a high hill. Charles Callahan chose the Alexandria site in 1908;…