Headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Nova Scotia, located in Halifax. Houses archives documenting the province''s Masonic history from the 1730s onward, including records connected to several figures involved in the early Oak Island treasure hunt.
About This Site
The Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia serves as the governing body of Freemasonry in the province, with roots tracing back to 1738 when Major Erasmus James Philipps was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Nova Scotia by Henry Price in Boston. The lodge maintains archives that are not available to the general public, containing membership rolls, correspondence, and records spanning nearly three centuries of Masonic activity in the region.
Freemasonry became deeply embedded in Nova Scotia's colonial administration. Among its members were Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence, who granted Oak Island to John Gifford and Richard Smith on December 27, 1753 (the feast day of Saint John the Evangelist, one of the most significant dates in the Masonic calendar); Surveyor General Charles Morris, who in 1762 divided Oak Island into 32 lots under the authority of Grand Master Jonathan Belcher Jr.; and Gilbert Hedden, who led excavations on the island in the 1930s. Researcher Scott Clarke has documented that at least six pre-1795 lot owners on Oak Island were Freemasons.
The Grand Lodge archives hold records relating to JB McCully, the Freemason who reportedly removed the inscribed 90-foot stone from the Money Pit. The stone was last publicly documented in 1865, displayed in a bookbinding firm on Upper Water Street in Halifax, and vanished around 1919. Charles Barkhouse, himself a Freemason, contacted fellow Mason Cal Hancock to arrange access to the archives in the hope of locating records that could shed light on the stone''s fate or McCully's involvement with the treasure hunt.
Connection to Oak Island
Lodge officials acknowledged the longstanding connections between Freemasonry and Oak Island during the team''s visit, noting the involvement of prominent Masons including Hedden and President Franklin Roosevelt. The archives also preserve the broader Masonic network that researcher Scott Clarke later drew on to establish connections between the Belcher family, Sir William Phips, and the earliest lot owners on the island. No definitive lead on the 90-foot stone emerged from the visit, but the lodge committed to continuing the search through their records.
Fieldwork Notes
Visited during Season 2 by Alex Lagina, Charles Barkhouse, and Swedish researcher Daniel Ronnstam. The team met with lodge officials and were granted access to the archives to search for records relating to JB McCully and the 90-foot stone. Cal Hancock, a fellow Mason contacted by Barkhouse, helped arrange the visit.
