Pilgrim Lodge is fortunate indeed to have intact the entire run of minutes from the very first communication
on March 31, 1859 down to the present day. They remain the principal and most valuable evidence pertaining to the history
and evolution of our lodge. However, they fall silent upon many issues that would interest today's Mason: variations in degree
work and ritual; the outfitting and furnishing of the lodge's three incarnations; and the personal qualities of the of the
men whose civic, religious and mercantile activities were so vital to the town of Harwich. Bro. Harry B. Albro's lodge history
of 1959 offers highlights but few insights. In what follows, I have added to Albro's account material that he might have been
reluctant to commit to paper.
Unfortunately, no records predating Pilgrim's founding exist to shed light on the
motivation and rationale of the charter members. That said, certain significant facts may be adduced from circumstantial data:
for instance, Pilgrim's very existence testifies to the surging popularity of Freemasonry in Harwich in the middle of
the 19th century, for it was chartered only a few years after Mt. Horeb Lodge in West Harwich The popularity of the Craft
was remarked upon with dismay in some quarters, most notably the Baptists in West Harwich. It is interesting to note that
several prominent Masons were intimately involved in the administration of the same church at this time!
One may
also surmise that a second Harwich lodge, located at the eastern edge of town, was conceived for the convenience of candidates
and members residing in Chatham, Brewster, Orleans and beyond. This is borne out by the fact that nearly half of the first
year's fourteen candidates hailed from Chatham. The lodge as constituted on March 4, 1860 - the date borne by our Grand Lodge
charter - specifies that Pilgrim's jurisdiction was South Harwich; a Grand Lodge emendation of June 9, 1880 strikes out the
word "South" and defines its jurisdiction to be "in the Town of Harwich, with current jurisdiction over Harwich
with Mt. Horeb." The peculiarities of Masonic grammar aside, Pilgrim and Mt. Horeb divided the jurisdiction of Harwich
for over a century.
Another matter of conjecture concerns the lodge's name. Again, no records state the charter members' intentions,
but we do know that the first Master of Pilgrim Lodge (and first named of the Charter Members) was on Frederick Hebard (right).
At the time, Wor. Bro. Hebard was resident pastor of the Pilgrim Congregational Church in Harwich Port, and perhaps had in
mind a collegial relationship between the two institutions. Wor. Hebard remained in the East until the close of the 1862 Masonic
year. From the beginning, the Lodge rented out the second floor of a humble
2 l/2-story commercial building on Chatham Road owned by Bro. Warren Freeman, Pilgrim's first Senior Warden. It was located
approximately 2/3 of a mile west of the South Harwich Methodist Church. The first apartments were dedicated on March 20, 1860
by the presiding Grand Master, Most Worsh1pful Winslow Lewis.The lodge was originally scheduled to meet the first and third
Thursday of the month, and did so for some time. This was later changed to the Thursday on, or before, the full moon, and
eventually to the first Thursday of the month.
The connection to Mt. Horeb Lodge remained vital through the Civil War. In fact, following Wor. Hebard's
administration ,the next Master to ascend to the Oriental Chair was Mt. Horeb's own first master, an accomplished sea captain
from West Harwich by the name of Nehemiah D. Kelley (left). The warm fraternal connection to Mt. Horeb, now in south Dennis,
flourishes to this day. Pilgrim's minutes indicate that of the 1,807 recorded communications held in our first century, nearly
740 were special! It would appear that in the days when traveling six or more miles by horse (or by foot) was required to
attend a meeting, a bit more flexibility was extended to the schedules of candidates and officers. Considering the effort
involved and the small size of the fraternity, it is astonishing to see just how well attended the early years were. The lodge
did not experience uninterrupted growth, for one reads with alarming regularity in the mid 1880s how attendance had fallen
to an average of eleven members per meeting, and how, a little later, fully twenty-four members were suspended for refusing
to pay the Grand Lodge assessment of $1.00 required to build the "new" Temple on Tremont Street in Boston. The minutes
afford but a few rare glimpses into current events, such as the grief recorded after reading the telegraphs announcing the
assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
For the most part, they chronicle pressing matters of lodge business: the
induction of new members, dues, and money management.
As early as December 1863, discussion and committee activity
emerges concerning a general desire to secure a more suitable building to house the lodge. In 1871, a motion to petition Grand
Lodge to move Pilgrim Lodge to Chatham was eventually voted down by the membership. It is to this movement that St. Martin's
Lodge in Chatham owes its own birth, and it is fair to say that Pilgrim hemorrhaged members to St. Martin's for quite some
time thereafter.
By 1873, it had become abundantly clear that the location in South Harwich, once a source of candidates
and interest, had become a liability and a movement was formed to relocate Pilgrim Lodge to the town center. At the time of
Wor. Shubael B. Kelley's (left) final term in the East in 1880, the move had become an economic necessity. In that year, as
noted above, Grand Lodge consented, and Pilgrim found a new home.
Thanks to the assistance of Mt. Horeb member and prominent Harwich citizen, Henry Cobb Brooks (right),
the Lodge was able to reduce it annual rent nearly 25% by moving into the newly constructed "Brooks Block" at the
corner of Bank Street and Sisson Road - the oldest architectural component of the newly remodeled Brooks Free Library. Bro.
Brooks also contributed $250 of the needed $525 required to finish the space and complete the move. As it that were not enough,
Bro. Brooks willed the then princely sum of $100 to Pilgrim Lodge upon his death; his portrait has been proudly hung in our
Lodge alongside the likenesses of our many distinguished Past Masters as a token of our continuing esteem and appreciation.
The first regular communication of Pilgrim Lodge in its second home took place on June 22, 1880.
It was not long
after completing the new wall frescoes for the education of candidates that dissatisfaction was voiced with regard to the
new accommodations. The apartments located in the vaulted attic rooms were considered cramped and dangerous. Fourteen years
later, the lodge had moved to the building it now proudly occupies on the northeast corner of Main Street and Route 124 in
Harwich Center. The Brett Building, by which it was formerly known, once abutted the Harwich Exchange Building and "all
above the first floor" was originally rented to the Lodge until Pilgrim purchased the structure in 1925. The mortgage
was paid off in 1945 when the Lodge received another generous legacy, this time a bequest of nearly $14,000 from the estate
of Bro. Benjamin B. Baker.
Over the years, various members have played an active role in district affairs, with
Pilgrim supplying twelve District Deputy Grand Masters as well as one Deputy Grand Master to Grand Lodge. In addition to the
movement to establish St. Martin's Lodge in Chatham, similar machinations came to the fore at Pilgrim in later years, including
an unsuccessful attempt to found a Lodge in Brewster in 1911, a contentious effort to establish Universal Lodge in Orleans
that finally succeeded in 1916, and more recently the birth of Nauset Light Lodge.
In terms of participating on
the national front, it is not known for certain how many of our brethren served in the Union Army during the Civil War. We
do know, however, that Pilgrim lost ten of its members to World War I, and several additional brothers fell in the pursuit
of Allied victory in the Second World War. Pilgrim's fraternal zeal was
also manifest in its rental of space to the Exchange Lodge of Odd Fellows, the Grange and the Rebeccas. Albro noted with some
delight that on two occasions, Pilgrim's secretary was requested to write these organizations demanding that they "refrain
from staining the floors of the ante room and hall with tobacco juice." One suspects that other reasons were involved
when, in 1935, Pilgrim ceased renting out the upstairs rooms. During the 1950s the Lodge dedicated much time and effort in
gradually modernizing the apartments, anteroom and kitchen.
Several impressive communications are on record. In 1919, nearly 200 Masons gathered to celebrate the
final visitation of R. W. Thomas H. Nickerson (left). The District Deputy Grand Master's suite was composed of some 45 Past
and Presiding Masters and was received by Wor. Henry K Bearse. More recently, the current Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts,
Most Worshipful Donald G. Hicks, Jr., presided over the festive celebration of Pilgrim Lodge's 1,500th Regular Communication
on April 4th, 2002.
Judging from the rosters required in early returns, the expansion of the Masonic franchise
within Harwich appears to reflect not only the emergence of a fraternal institution attempting to meet public demand, but
quite possibly also an attempt to foster a different Masonic culture than was
offered at Mt. Horeb. Genealogical research conducted at Mt. Horeb indicates that a significant portion of the brethren who
congregated in West Harwich were mariners, and among them quite a large contingent of "blue water" sea captains,
that is to say, ocean-faring entrepreneurs. These men had international aspirations and contacts, and no doubt relished a
life of adventure. The mentality and priorities of men whose livelihood and passion lay far from the doors of the lodge would
naturally tend to develop a certain, well-defined character for the group as a whole.
It may well be that the
culture of Mt. Horeb failed to offer a congenial atmosphere for the practice of the Craft for other kinds of men, men whose
allegiances and priorities could be characterized as more local in nature. The list of Harwich's preeminent bankers, town
councilors, and capitalists - that is to say, the men who fashioned their lives in Harwich during the final third of the nineteenth
century overlaps significantly with the roster of Pilgrim Lodge for the same years. Of course, as time passes and each generation
fades from prominence, the cultures of institutions inevitably change as well. In this, with the passing away of the last
grand generation of Cape Cod ship master early in the 20th century, there can be no doubt that Mt. Horeb and Pilgrim continued
to meet Harwich's fraternal and charitable needs in new and different ways.
Pilgrim Lodge is currently on the forefront of Masonic charity in a number of avenues. First and foremost
is our dedication to one another, our widows and families. Few Lodges can rival the sacrifices made by Masons for Masons in
Harwich. Next is our dedication to the needy children in the many schools in Harwich. In the last three years alone, many
thousands of dollars have been spent to help hundreds of local school children and their families. Our Masonic labor has not
escaped the local media, and we are resolute in in our determination to improve as quiet, responsible stewards of our selves,
our families, and our community. With a century and a half of dedication to the noble goals of our fraternity, we are well
poised to continue our proud heritage of high ideals and public service well into the future.
Bro. J. Duncan Berry,
Secretary Harwich Port, July 2003
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