Pennsylvania Freemasonry: What's Different Here

If you learned about Freemasonry from American books, podcasts, or YouTube, a fair amount of it will not match what you find in a Pennsylvania Lodge. That is not because anyone here is doing it wrong. Pennsylvania is one of the most distinctive Masonic jurisdictions in the United States, and it has been that way since before the Republic.

It is very old, and it never adopted the American standard

The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania (formally the Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania) traces to the mid-1700s and is among the oldest Grand Lodges in the Western Hemisphere. Benjamin Franklin is the name everyone reaches for, and he is genuinely part of that early history.

The consequence that matters day to day: while most American jurisdictions work a ritual descended from the Preston–Webb lectures, Pennsylvania does not. It retained an older working, closer in descent to the Ancients tradition it came from, and it has never conformed to the American norm.

Practical effect for a visitor: the floor work, the wording, and parts of the structure will differ from what you know, sometimes markedly. This is exactly the situation visiting another Lodge warns about: be candid with an examining committee about what your own work does and does not include, and expect a longer conversation than usual.

“Free and Accepted”, not “Ancient Free and Accepted”

Most US jurisdictions style their Lodges A.F. & A.M. (Ancient Free and Accepted Masons). Pennsylvania uses F. & A.M.

It is a small thing until you are ordering a plaque, a ring, an apron, or a set of Lodge stationery, at which point it is the detail that makes the item wrong. Check the styling your own Lodge uses before you have anything engraved. Vendors default to whichever is more common, not to yours.

The Ahiman Rezon

Pennsylvania’s book of constitutions is the Ahiman Rezon, a name inherited from the Ancients’ constitutions of the 1750s and retained here long after most jurisdictions moved to a plainly-titled book of constitutions or code.

If you are told to consult the Ahiman Rezon, that is the governing document, not a ritual book and not an esoteric text. It is the law of the jurisdiction.

The Masonic Temple in Philadelphia

The Grand Lodge sits in the Masonic Temple on North Broad Street in Philadelphia, across from City Hall, and it is one of the finest Masonic buildings anywhere: a set of lodge halls each built in a different historical style, plus a museum and library.

It is open to the public for tours. If you have any interest in the fraternity at all and you are within driving distance, go. You do not need to be a Mason.

The Masonic Villages

Pennsylvania’s Masonic charity is unusually large and unusually visible: the Masonic Villages, a set of retirement and care communities, with the flagship campus at Elizabethtown. It is one of the biggest fraternal charitable operations in the country and it is where a great deal of the jurisdiction’s charitable effort goes.

If you join here, you will hear about Elizabethtown constantly. This is why.

The York Rite is strong here

Pennsylvania is a York Rite stronghold. In many PA towns the Royal Arch Chapter meets in the same building as the Lodge, and a large share of the men around you will be Companions.

That is a matter of local density rather than any official preference. The Scottish Rite’s Northern Masonic Jurisdiction Valleys in Pennsylvania are substantial too, and PA is NMJ territory, not Southern Jurisdiction. Material written for the SJ will not match what you see.

• The York Rite explained
• The Scottish Rite explained
• York Rite vs. Scottish Rite

Joining in Pennsylvania

The process is the standard one, petition, investigation, ballot, three degrees, with local specifics you should confirm rather than assume:

• Minimum age is set by the jurisdiction; PA has historically been on the older end. Confirm with the Lodge.
• Proficiency requirements here are on the demanding side. Expect real memorization between degrees, and budget the evenings for it.
• Dress runs formal. A dark suit is the safe answer for any PA Lodge you have not visited before, and several run to black tie for stated meetings and installations. See what to wear to Lodge.

The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania’s website lists every Lodge in the state by county, with contact details. That list is the correct starting point, and the Lodge Secretary is the correct person to ask about anything on this page.

Why this page hedges as much as it does

Everything above is drawn from what the jurisdiction publishes about itself, and it is deliberately general where specifics change. Ages, fees, and requirements are set by the Grand Lodge and revised over time, and a website that states them as fixed will be wrong within a few years.

The rule this site applies everywhere applies double in Pennsylvania: your own Lodge is the authority. Ask the Secretary. He would rather answer it twice than correct it once.