By: Tom Markland
HEDGESVILLE — Dozens of members of the West Virginia Masonic organization from across West Virginia gathered on Saturday to dedicate the cornerstone of the new Hedgesville Learning Academy.
The ceremony is one of only two that the organization does that the public ever sees — the second being funerals.
During the ceremony, the group laid the cornerstone for the building in the northeast corner, a tradition that started hundreds of years ago on a different continent.
“We got our start with the craft guilds that laid stones for all the great cathedrals in Europe,” said Grand Master Steven Moss of the West Virginia Grand Lodge. “When you’re laying a building, the most important stone to lay is the cornerstone, because it determines where all the other stones go.”
The cornerstone on the new Hedgesville Learning Academy is specially crafted and decorated to commemorate when it was placed and current leadership at the board of education.
In addition to laying the cornerstone, a “casket” was also placed inside. Different from a time capsule, which is meant to be opened on a specific date, caskets are meant to be opened when a structure is taken down.
“When this building eventually gets demolished, hopefully 150 or 200 years from now, we’ll pull that casket out of there and open it up and remember all the things that happened when that thing was laid,” Moss said. “We’ve opened up cornerstone caskets from 1903, from schools that were torn down for a new school to be put in its place.”
Inside the casket are letters from students and staff at Hedgesville Middle School and Hedgesville High School, a copy of The Journal from Jan. 14, 2025, a copy of the school’s logo concept and current design, as well as the book, “Charlotte’s Web” and a mask to commemorate the coronavirus pandemic, both sent by Hedgesville Elementary.
The first cornerstone laid by the masonic order in Berkeley County dates back to May 3, 1879, for the Berkeley County law, according to one speaker in the ceremony. Since then, the group has conducted 14 such dedications for cornerstones of public buildings and churches.
Located across North Ridge Road from Hedgesville High School, the new Hedgesville Learning Academy will be a 28,000-square-foot pre-kindergarten center, set to house eight classrooms for 160 students. In the future, a 7,100-square-foot expansion of four classrooms is planned.
It’s costing $11.8 million to build, with work on the site started in October 2024. It is expected to be complete by December.
Moss and the other Masons said they hope to lay cornerstones for more buildings in the county in the future, with the construction of several schools slated to begin in the near future.