Are You Looking for “The Lost Symbol”? It’s Not Here!
Yes, George Washington was a Freemason. Yes, we know you are reading Dan Brown’s recently released “The Lost Symbol” and are now planning your trip to Mount Vernon to come look for hidden Masonic symbols. Well, hate to disappoint but you won’t find them here. But here is what we do know about George Washington and freemasonry:
- He joined a Fredericksburg, Va lodge at age 20 and eventually rose to the rank of Master Mason.
- Many of his friends were Masons, most of his Revolutionary War officers, and over a third of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention were Masons. So yes, there were lots of Masonic connections.
- The Bible used at his Inauguration belonged to a New York Masonic lodge.
- Just as Dan Brown writes, the Capitol’s cornerstone was laid by Washington in a Masonic ceremony and he wore a Masonic apron.
- He received a letter from a G.W. Snyder about the Illuminati but Washington’s response was very critical of the group.
- Washington was placed in the family vault upon his death in 1799 with full Masonic honors.
So that is what we DO know… the rest is just conjecture. There are no secret hidden Masonic symbols at Mount Vernon- but feel free to come look for yourself! And click here to learn a little more about Freemasonry as it is described in Brown’s book.
Tags: dan brown, freemasonry, masons, symbols, the lost symbol, washington
September 27th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Thank you for this very appropriate response to Dan Brown’s book “The Lost Symbol”. I am a Bible student and found so many inaccuracies to his “Da Vinci Code” that although his writings are controversial and popular, his creditability is surely lacking. Even in a “Da Vinci Code”- age it remains important that fact still be proven (especially at Mount Vernon). Otherwise it remains opinion contrived to benefit the author.
February 10th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
It’s a novel. Brown writes fiction. Are other novelists’ works searched for “inaccuracies”? No. Why not? Because they are made up stories, ALL of which are “contrived to benefit the author”. That’s the point: novelists spin yarns for a living. Brown is just one of many. Don’t even think of looking to novels for the kind of verifiable fact and truth you want to prove; that can’t and shouldn’t be done.