King Solomon’s Lodge No. 7 Masonic Temple (1838)

The oldest Masonic Temple in continuous use in Connecticut is the Temple of King Solomon’s Lodge No. 7 (originally chartered in 1765), built high on a rocky cliff on Main Street in Woodbury. The front section of the Temple was built in 1838 on land sold to the Lodge by Ashbel Moody. Construction materials had to be hauled from the street over the face of the rock because Moody’s son-in-law, Levi Douglas, an anti-Mason, would not allow transportation across his family’s land, although he later sold an additional 2 foot strip of land when the building was expanded. A set of stairs from the street (no longer in use) were constructed in 1839. The Temple was enlarged in 1866, with further additions in the twentieth century.