On September 8, 1791, the Grand Lodge of New Jersey granted a charter to a small group of pioneers living in Cincinnati, a newly settled city tucked in the southwest corner of the untamed Ohio Valley. The dangers of the frontier delayed the charter for more than three years, but in December of 1794, the first members of Nova Caesarea (New Jersey) Lodge No. 10 met to elect their officers. (1)
At 224 years old, Nova Caesarea Harmony Lodge No. 2, as it has been known since 1813, is one of Ohio’s oldest Lodges; predating the Grand Lodge and even Ohio’s own admission into statehood. From humble beginnings in a log cabin, NC Harmony’s membership quickly grew, and in the early 1900s the Lodge began meeting at the stately Cincinnati Masonic Center. Currently, NC Harmony claims approximately 350 members as it merges with Columbia Lodge No. 44 in Miamitown.
As Nova Caesarea Harmony Lodge No. 2 looks forward to its 225th anniversary, Worshipful Master Rodney Epperson has been working on some truly wonderful plans for the event. As one of the six Lodges to form the Grand Lodge of Ohio, NC Harmony will host a celebration during which all six Lodges will perform an Entered Apprentice degree together. “We hope that everybody will be able to enjoy that day and be part of the celebration with us. Not a celebration to us, a celebration with us,” Brother Epperson said. “That’s what we’re really trying to accomplish here. Just reminding ourselves of what we can accomplish together.”
(1) Baer, Henry. “Pioneer Masonry in the Northwest Territory, The Story of Nova Caesarea Harmony Lodge No. 2, Cincinnati.” The Builder Magazine November 1927
