Page 29 - Dragon Flood

Historical Marker - Downtown Macon, Georgia

The marker reads as follows:

FREEMASONRY IN MACON

FREEMASONRY CAME TO MACON IN 1824 WHEN THE CITY WAS IN ITS INFANCY.
MACON LODGE NO. 5, F. & A. M.*, WAS ORGANIZED IN 1824 AND CHARTERED BY
THE GRAND LODGE OF GEORGIA IN 1825. HISTORIANS HAVE REFERRED TO
MACON LODGE AS BEING THE 'FIRST SOCIETY IN THE TOWN OF MACON.' IN 1846
THE GRAND LODGE OF GEORGIA, F. & A. M., MOVED ITS SEAT FROM
MILLEDGEVILLE TO MACON AND FOR MANY YEARS HELD ITS ANNUAL
COMMUNICATIONS IN THE HALL OF MACON LODGE NO. 5.

DR. AMBROSE BABER, M.D., A PHYSICIAN AND PIONEER CITIZEN OF MACON, WAS
THE FIRST WORSHIPFUL MASTER OF MACON LODGE AND LATER SERVED THE
WHOLE CRAFT IN GEORGIA AS GRAND MASTER OF MASONS DURING 1831. HE
DIED ACCIDENTALLY IN 1846 AND IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR A MONUMENT WAS
ERECTED TO HIS MEMORY BY JOINT ACTION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF GEORGIA,
MACON LODGE AND CONSTANTINE CHAPTER NO. 4 ROYAL ARCH MASONS.

IN 1825 DURING HIS TRIUMPHAL TOUR OF THE UNITED STATES BY BROTHER AND
GENERAL THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE, THE FREEMASONS OF MACON AND
OTHER GROUPS LAVISHLY ENTERTAINED AND HONORED THIS FAMOUS AND
BELOVED FRENCH NOBLEMAN WHO HAD CONTRIBUTED SO MUCH TO THE CAUSE
OF AMERICAN LIBERTY BY SERVING AS A COMRADE-IN-ARMS WITH BROTHER
AND GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON.

MARKER PLACED BY THE
EDUCATIONAL & HISTORICAL COMMISSION
GRAND LODGE OF GEORGIA, F&AM

(*Note that F & AM stands for Free and Accepted Masons)

There is absolutely no doubt that this French Freemason who visited Macon in its infancy
understood the relevance of the name of this new city in Georgia. Yet, according to the