Brotherhoods of the New World: Freemasonry, Immigration, and the Making of Early America

When the first waves of Dutch, British, and Scottish settlers arrived in Ulster County, they brought with them more than tools and ambitions — they brought their lodges. Freemasonry functioned as a kind of invisible architecture of colonial and early American society: a fraternal system that gave immigrant communities a framework for trust, civic participation, and shared identity in an unfamiliar world. In this program, author and researcher Glenn Kreisberg explores the esoteric origins and local history of Freemasonry in Ulster County.

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About the presenter

Glenn Kreisberg is an author, radio engineer, and New York State DEC outdoor guide based in Woodstock, NY. He researches archaeoastronomy and landscape archaeology in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains, and served two terms as First Vice President of the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA). He is co-founder of the Overlook Mountain Center in Woodstock, a nonprofit that stewards one of Ulster County’s most significant archaeological preserves, and has studied archaeoacoustics on Malta through the Old Temple Study Foundation and Heritage Malta. His work has been featured on The History Channel. His latest book explores the history of Freemasonry and its esoteric traditions in Ulster County and early America.