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Worth a Look: Quitman Masonic Building

The April/May issue of California Freemason is all about Masonic travel around the world, but there are many interesting Masonic sites right here in California.

For example, the Quitman Masonic building has the unusual distinction of being located in a state park.

Quitman Lodge No. 88 was one of several lodges formed near mining camps during the California Gold Rush. After years of moving from one camp to another, the lodge made its final move in 1880 to the town of North Bloomfield in the Sierra Nevada foothills. In 1910, the lodge merged with Nevada Lodge No. 13 in nearby Nevada City.

Today the old Quitman Lodge building is memorialized in the Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park.

The park was established in the North Bloomfield area in 1966 to preserve the town’s 1880 appearance. Shortly after, Nevada Lodge members began restoring the Quitman Lodge building to its historical condition.

Today the building features real furniture and accessories from the Gold Rush era. And, true to its original form, the two-story building has a drugstore on the first floor and the lodge room on the second. (Quitman Lodge owned the entire building and leased out the downstairs portion.)

The building is part of the tour conducted by the park service. For more information and directions to Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, visit malakoffdiggins.org or call 530/265-2740.

For more Masonic sight-seeing ideas in the state, check out this article. Know of another? Join the discussion on the official Facebook page for the Masons of California.


Photo courtesy of Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park