J. D. Giddings Lodge No. 280, A. F. & A. M.

The lodge carries the name of Jabez Deming Giddings, a Brenham lawyer and Mason. He came from Pennsylvania in 1838 to claim the land bounty of his brother Giles, who died of wounds from San Jacinto, and enlisted for the Somervell expedition in 1842. Before the Civil War he was a slaveholder and among the richest men in Texas. He helped organize Brenham's Methodist church and a Masonic academy, founded the Giddings and Giddings bank in 1866, and in 1876 helped buy Alta Vista for the planned Prairie View college. A carriage accident killed him in 1878.

What the plaque says

J. D. Giddings Lodge No. 280, A. F. & A. M. Chartered by the Grand Lodge of Texas in 1865, this Masonic Lodge had its beginnings in the community of Evergreen (about 5 mi. N). Relocated to the new town of Giddings in 1872 after the railroad bypassed Evergreen, the lodge has played an important part in the civic life of its adopted city. Over the years, lodge facilities have been shared with the public schools, as well as with a number of community organizations and governmental agencies. A new lodge hall was built at this site in 1969-70. The lodge continues to be an active part of the community. (1990)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas Wendish Heritage Museum — 5.4 mi
  A museum at Serbin of the Wends, a Slavic people from Lusatia whose congregation of nearly 600 crossed on the Ben Nevis in 1854, losing seventy-three to cholera on the way.
• Lake Somerville State Park and Trailway — 14 mi
  Two park units on an 11,000-acre lake between Austin and College Station, joined by a thirteen-mile trailway for hikers, cyclists and riders with primitive camps along the way.
• Round Top and Festival Hill — 16 mi
  A German village on the old La Bahía Road, named for a house tower, with an 1867 stone church, a Fourth of July kept since 1851 and a concert hall a pianist built without blueprints.
• Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Historic Sites — 21 mi
  A shared tomb on the Colorado River bluff for the men of the Dawson fight and the black bean lottery, beside the ruins of a German stonemason's spring-fed brewery.

More markers nearby

• First National Bank — steps away
• County Named for Beloved Confederate General Robert E. Lee — steps away
• Lee County — steps away
• Milton Garrett York, Sr. — steps away