Small in scale with imaginative architectural details, the historic chapel in Glenwood Cemetery has a storybook quality, not least in its iron spiral cresting along the roof, and tower and trellis atop the entrance.

The chapel was built in 1901, designed by local builder Frank T. Wright, who also built Picton’s Crystal Palace at the Fairgrounds. The chapel windows are distinctive. Rather than the usual Christian imagery, all the windows were donated by Prince Edward County’s secret societies, and are embellished with their symbols. 

There is stained glass in some Masonic Lodges and Odd Fellows Halls, but for a Chapel to have such a collection is truly unique. The windows are currently stored in crates awaiting the unknown fate of the chapel.

The Masonic Window

The Freemasons were well-established in The County by the end of the 19th century. In November 1901, the local Masonic Lodge commissioned a stained glass window for Glenwood Chapel.  The cost was not to exceed $85. 

The Masonic Window was created in Toronto in 1902 by the illustrious N.T. Lyon Company. Its theme and symbols highlight the Masonic view of death and the afterlife. The design portrays a dream-like setting with a tiled floor leading out into the night sky. This image is inspired by Masonic ceremony and is meant to evoke Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. The window is rich with classic Masonic symbols, the most prominent being a Hexagram containing a Blazing Star, and a purple quatrefoil holding an open Holy Book or Scroll. The text is from Ecclesiastes 12, often attributed to King Solomon, and offers a meditation on the inevitability of death, carrying a warning not to wait too long in building one’s spiritual life!    

Overlaid on the scripture is the well-known symbol of Freemasonry, the Square and Compasses. The Compasses represent the realm of spiritual eternity and infinite boundary, while the Square is a symbol of earth and the material world.

To learn more please see Glenwood Chapel ~ Secret Societies and their Stained Glass by Sarah Hall, available at Books & Company. Many thanks to the County Archives and Picton Gazette articles: 1 Oct. 1901; 18 Oct. 1901; 22 Nov. 1901; 11 Oct. 1917; 3 March 1927, and to Upon the Level, by the Square: The History of Prince Edward Lodge No.18, by Alan Capon.