This year, the Masons celebrated their 225th anniversary in Maryland. Throughout the year, the Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Maryland has placed wreaths on the 65 known gravesites of the 72 grandmasters in Maryland.

Dr. John Coats, who helped found the Grand Lodge in 1787 in Easton and was the first Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, was buried in Easton’s Spring Hill Cemetery. The Easton Masonic lodge bears Coats’ name, Coats Lodge No. 102, which was established on November 22, 1855. To celebrate Dr. Coats and the other early Masons who were instrumental in the growth of Masonry in Maryland, officers of the Grand Lodge and members of Easton’s Coats Lodge No. 102 processed in their full Masonic attire from the Coats Lodge building on Washington Street to Spring Hill Cemetery in Easton.