To Robert Burns

In 1910, the Burns Club of Atlanta, Georgia, erected a building unique in the world, the only exact replica of the Burns cottage near Kirk Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland, birthplace of Robert Burns, the world’s most beloved poet and poet Laureate of Freemasonry. Its cornerstone was laid in 1910, in due and ancient form, by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Georgia, Free and Accepted Masons, in tribute to the memory of their great Scottish brother. Burns was made a Freemason on July 4, 1781, at St. David’s Lodge, Tarbolton, Scotland. He was elected Depute Master of St. James’ Lodge on July 27, 1784, and served until St. John’s Day of 1788. In 1786 he was elected to honorary membership in St. John’s Lodge No. 22, Kilmarnock, Scotland, and that lodge’s minutes recorded him as Robert Burns, Poet. Freemasonry was the dominant influence in his life, and many of his poems express in unmatched beauty and simplicity the ideals of Masonic Brotherhood.

Atlanta, Georgia · United States