When you think about remote Masonic lodges, your mind might drift to rural towns in Alaska or mountain villages in Scotland.
But the most remote lodge in Masonic history wasn’t in a small town at all. It was established on February 5, 1935, in a place where humans weren’t meant to survive: Antarctica.
Antarctic Lodge No. 777, chartered under the Grand Lodge of New Zealand, holds the distinction of being the only Masonic lodge ever established on the seventh continent.
Its story involves one of history’s most famous explorers, 60 Freemasons willing to face brutal conditions, and a ceremony held in temperatures that would kill an unprepared man in minutes.
Admiral Richard E. Byrd: The Mason Who Conquered the Poles
Richard Evelyn Byrd was raised in Federal Lodge No. 1 in Washington, D.C. on March 19, 1921. Born into one of Virginia’s most distinguished families in 1888, Byrd seemed destined for greatness from the start.
After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1912, he became a pioneering aviator and polar explorer whose name would become synonymous with Antarctic exploration.
In May 1926, Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett claimed to have completed the first flight over the North Pole, a claim that remains debated to this day. Regardless of the controversy, the flight made Byrd a national hero. President Calvin Coolidge promoted him to Commander and presented both men with the Medal of Honor.
Byrd carried his Masonic identity with him everywhere. In 1928, he affiliated with Kane Lodge No. 454 in New York. During his polar expeditions, he and his pilot Bernt Balchen dropped Masonic flags on both the North and South Poles. Balchen even added his Shrine fez to the drop, a touch of fraternal pride in one of Earth’s most inhospitable places.
The 1933-35 Antarctic Expedition
Byrd’s second Antarctic expedition, launched between 1933 and 1935, was massive in scope. Eighty-two men made the journey to establish a base camp they called “Little America” on the Ross Ice Shelf.
What most people don’t know is that 60 of those 82 men were Freemasons.
Think about that number. Nearly three-quarters of the expedition consisted of Brothers who had taken their obligations in lodges scattered across America.
When you’re isolated thousands of miles from civilization in temperatures that regularly drop below minus 40 degrees, the bonds of brotherhood take on profound significance.
These men relied on each other not just for companionship but for survival.
The expedition established permanent research stations and conducted extensive scientific work. But for the Masons among them, something else was taking shape.
In the darkest, coldest, most isolated place on Earth, they wanted to open a lodge.
February 5, 1935: A Historic Meeting
On February 5, 1935, under the authority of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand, Antarctic Lodge No. 777 held its first and only recorded meeting.
The location was Little America base camp, a collection of structures buried under snow and ice to protect against the relentless Antarctic winds.
The choice of New Zealand’s jurisdiction wasn’t arbitrary. New Zealand’s proximity to Antarctica and its long history of supporting polar exploration made it the logical choice for a charter.
The Grand Lodge of New Zealand approved the unusual request, and Antarctic Lodge No. 777 was born.
The ceremony itself must have been unlike any lodge meeting before or since. Imagine the scene: Brothers in heavy winter gear, the temperature well below freezing even inside their shelter, conducting Masonic ritual in a place where stepping outside unprepared meant death.
The secrecy of the lodge room took on new meaning when the entire continent was your tyler.
The lodge’s number, 777, carries its own mystique. Whether this number was specifically chosen or simply the next available in New Zealand’s registry is unclear, but the triple sevens have intrigued Masonic historians ever since.
The Lodge That Time Forgot
Here’s where the story takes a melancholy turn. Antarctic Lodge No. 777 appears to have met only once. After that historic February meeting, there are no records of additional communications.
When the expedition ended and the men returned to civilization, the lodge effectively ceased to exist.
The Grand Lodge of New Zealand no longer lists Antarctic Lodge No. 777 on its roll. The lodge is considered inactive, a footnote in Masonic history rather than an ongoing institution. No lodge room remains in Antarctica.
No gavel or charter exists in a museum.
The physical evidence of that meeting has vanished into the ice.
But the story endures. Antarctic Lodge No. 777 represents something profound about Freemasonry: the desire of Brothers to maintain their fraternal bonds regardless of circumstances.
These men could have simply waited until they returned home to attend lodge. Instead, they insisted on opening a lodge in the most inhospitable place on Earth, if only for a single meeting.
Can You Visit Antarctica’s Masonic History?
Now for the practical question: can you actually visit the site where Antarctic Lodge No. 777 met? The short answer is complicated.
Little America base camp, where the lodge met, no longer exists in any accessible form. The original structures have been buried under decades of accumulated ice and snow.
The Ross Ice Shelf itself moves slowly toward the ocean, and portions of it eventually break off as icebergs.
The exact location where those 60 Masons opened lodge in 1935 is now either buried under 50+ feet of ice or has long since floated away into the Southern Ocean.
However, you can visit Antarctica. Modern tourism to the continent has become surprisingly accessible, though “accessible” is relative when discussing one of Earth’s most extreme environments.
Most Antarctic tourism operates during the austral summer (November through February) when temperatures are merely brutal instead of absolutely lethal. Tour operators run expeditions from South America, Australia, and New Zealand.
These typically involve cruise ships that navigate through the Drake Passage or specialized flights directly to the continent.
If you’re a Mason with deep pockets and a sense of adventure, you could theoretically organize a visit to Antarctica during which you and other Brothers conduct a Masonic ceremony honoring Antarctic Lodge No. 777.
Some tour operators offer custom private expeditions that could accommodate such a request, though you’d need to ensure compliance with the Antarctic Treaty, which strictly regulates activities on the continent.
The most practical approach would be joining one of White Desert’s luxury expeditions, which fly guests directly to Antarctica from Cape Town and provide access to remote interior locations.
These trips cost upward of $80,000 per person, putting them out of reach for most Brothers, but they offer the kind of access that would allow for a commemorative Masonic ceremony.
The Most Remote Accessible Lodge: Tanana No. 3, Alaska
For Brothers seeking a more practical remote lodge experience, consider Tanana Lodge No. 3 in Fairbanks, Alaska.
The Grand Lodge of Alaska proudly claims Tanana Lodge as the most northerly lodge in the world, located at approximately 64.8 degrees north latitude.
Fairbanks is accessible year-round via commercial flights from Anchorage or Seattle. The city experiences extreme seasonal variations, from summer’s midnight sun to winter’s deep freeze.
Visiting Fairbanks during winter, when temperatures can drop below minus 40 degrees, gives you a taste of the conditions Antarctic Lodge No. 777 faced, though admittedly in considerably more comfort.
The journey to Fairbanks itself feels like an adventure. As your plane flies north from Anchorage, civilization gradually disappears beneath you, replaced by endless wilderness, mountains, and glaciers. Landing in Fairbanks, you’re closer to the Arctic Circle than to the lower 48 states.
Tanana Lodge welcomes visiting Brothers with legendary Alaskan hospitality. Contact the lodge secretary in advance to confirm meeting schedules and visiting requirements.
The experience of attending lodge near the Arctic Circle, where winter darkness lasts for months, connects you to the spirit of isolation that Antarctic Lodge’s members must have felt.
The Legacy of Antarctic Lodge No. 777
Though Antarctic Lodge No. 777 met only once and exists now only in memory, its legacy persists.
The lodge represents the universal nature of Freemasonry and the determination of Brothers to maintain their connections regardless of circumstances.
Admiral Byrd continued his Masonic involvement throughout his life. He remained active in Federal Lodge No. 1 and Kane Lodge No. 454, eventually becoming a founding member of National Sojourners Chapter No. 3 in Washington, D.C.
He conducted multiple additional Antarctic expeditions, including Operation Highjump in 1946, which brought 4,000 military personnel to the continent. Byrd died on March 11, 1957, having spent much of his life exploring Earth’s most extreme environments.
The story of Antarctic Lodge No. 777 reminds us that Masonic brotherhood transcends geography. Those 60 Brothers who gathered in Little America in 1935 created something that endures not in physical form but in spirit.
Every time a Brother travels to a distant lodge, whether in Alaska or Australia, Scotland or Singapore, he carries forward the same impulse that led those Antarctic explorers to open a lodge at the bottom of the world.
So while you can’t realistically visit Antarctic Lodge No. 777, you can honor its memory. Visit remote lodges. Seek out Brothers in isolated places. Maintain the bonds of fellowship regardless of distance or difficulty.
That’s the real legacy of the world’s most remote Masonic lodge: the insistence that wherever Brothers gather, light can shine, even in the darkest, coldest, most isolated place on Earth.
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Very interesting!
I am a member of OES 8 and Job’s Daughters. My deceased dad was a Mason in three lodges and the one that fascinated me was The Invisable Lodge. He was a magician.