What This Site Is
American Freemasons is a geographic reference website covering Freemasonry across the Americas. We document recognized Masonic grand lodges in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and US and Americas territories — providing historically grounded, accurately sourced information about each jurisdiction's Masonic landscape.
The site is organized around places, not organizations. Each page covers Freemasonry in a specific state, province, or country: its history, its recognized grand lodges, relevant sites and landmarks for traveling Masons, and the appendant bodies active in the jurisdiction. This structure reflects what most readers are actually looking for — information about Masonry where they live or where they're going, rather than an organizational profile of any single body.
Who We Are
American Freemasons is produced by an active Freemason and is entirely independent. We are not affiliated with any grand lodge, Masonic body, or recognition authority. We do not speak for Freemasonry, represent it, or advocate for any particular jurisdiction or obedience. We are a reference resource, and we try to be a good one.
The site was built because trustworthy, well-organized information about recognized Masonic grand lodges — particularly information useful to traveling Masons, to Brothers researching their own jurisdiction's history, and to prospective Masons trying to find a regular lodge — has historically been scattered, inconsistently sourced, and difficult to navigate. American Freemasons is an attempt to do better.
What "Recognized" Means
Every jurisdiction covered on this site is verified as regular against the United Grand Lodge of England's published recognition list — the most widely used international standard for determining Masonic regularity. We cross-reference this against COGMNA (Conference of Grand Masters of Masons in North America) data for US and Canadian jurisdictions, and against individual grand lodge amity lists where those are publicly available.
A grand lodge that is not on UGLE's published recognition list does not appear as a recognized body on this site. We note the existence of unrecognized bodies only where their presence is materially relevant to a jurisdiction's Masonic landscape, and we are explicit about their status.
This standard is not a judgment about any body's legitimacy in its own terms. It is a clearly defined, publicly verifiable criterion that allows us to provide consistent, reliable guidance to Brothers visiting from recognized jurisdictions.
Prince Hall Affiliated Freemasonry
Prince Hall Affiliated grand lodges receive the same coverage, the same editorial depth, and the same prominence as mainstream grand lodges on every page where they are present. This is not a concession — it is what the history requires.
Prince Hall Masonry traces its lineage to African Lodge No. 459, chartered by the Grand Lodge of England in 1784, making it among the oldest continuous Masonic traditions in North America. The long exclusion of Prince Hall grand lodges from mainstream recognition was a chapter in American Masonic history that this site does not paper over. Where mutual recognition between mainstream and PHA grand lodges exists, we say so clearly. Where it does not, we say that too.
Pages for US states and Canadian provinces with a UGLE-recognized Prince Hall grand lodge carry a full Prince Hall section alongside the mainstream grand lodge section — same length, same source standards, same editorial care.
What We Cover
Phase 1 — The Americas (in progress):
- 51 US states and the District of Columbia
- 10 Canadian provinces
- 8 Central American countries
- 12 South American countries
- 24 Caribbean jurisdictions
- 4 US and Americas territories
Future phases will expand coverage to include appendant and concordant bodies (Scottish Rite, York Rite, Shrine, and allied organizations), Masonic travel content, multilingual versions of country pages, and potentially lodge-level directories where grand lodges support that kind of data sharing.
Nonprofit Status and Revenue
American Freemasons operates on a nonprofit basis. The site is supported by a WooCommerce merchandise shop offering print-on-demand Masonic apparel and accessories. Revenue from merchandise sales funds site operations and supports Masonic charitable giving. We do not carry advertising, accept sponsored content, or take payment to feature any grand lodge or Masonic organization.
Corrections and Updates
We work hard to get facts right, and we know we will sometimes get them wrong. Grand lodge websites change. Recognition statuses are updated. Founding dates are disputed by legitimate historical sources. We want to know when something on this site is incorrect or out of date.
The Submit a Correction page explains how to reach us. Every submission is reviewed. Corrections that are supported by a primary source are applied and noted.