Downtown Norfolk restaurant inside an 1873 former church where staff say 'Goodnight, Mr. B' to a former owner who reportedly still takes smoke breaks in the storeroom.
209 W Freemason St, Norfolk, VA 23510
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Full-service restaurant; entrees typically $25–50. Known for award-winning she-crab soup, fresh seafood, and lobster tails.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Main dining floor accessible; mezzanine level reached by stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1873 · Freemason Historic District · Adaptive Reuse Architecture · 19th-Century Presbyterian Church · Norfolk Dining Heritage
The structure at 209 West Freemason Street was constructed and dedicated in 1873 as the home of the Second Presbyterian Church congregation, in what is now Norfolk's Freemason historic district. In 1902 the property was sold to the First Church of Christ Scientist, which occupied it until 1948. From 1948 through 1987 the building served as a meeting hall for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In early 1988 a Norfolk restaurateur acquired the property and began the lengthy conversion of the church sanctuary into a restaurant and tavern, preserving the vaulted wood ceiling, stained-glass elements, and original pewing details where possible. The Freemason Abbey Restaurant and Tavern opened later that year and has operated continuously since, becoming one of downtown Norfolk's longest-running dinner houses and a frequent feature in regional food writing.
The building's mixed religious history — Presbyterian, Christian Scientist, then Odd Fellows — combined with its mid-19th-century construction and post-1988 hospitality use give it the layered identity common to adaptive-reuse haunted dining venues across the South. The owners' family-restaurant model and the staff's openness with reporters about their nightly traditions have made the venue a regular stop on Norfolk ghost-tour itineraries and a recurring feature in Virginia food and lifestyle press.
Sources
According to Colonial Ghosts, the Mid-Atlantic Tourism PR Alliance, and the syndicated feature 'The Chilling Virginia Eatery With a Resident Ghostly Regular' on MyFamilyTravels, the Freemason Abbey has one of Norfolk's most consistently reported restaurant hauntings. Staff accounts describe cupboards opening on their own, plates of food disappearing between the kitchen and the floor, items falling from shelves with no apparent cause, and doors that refuse to stay in whatever position they're left in.
The central named figure is 'Mr. B,' identified in tour narratives as a former owner of the restaurant. Servers and kitchen staff reportedly end each shift by saying 'Goodnight, Mr. B' aloud as they leave the dry-goods storeroom, where Mr. B is said to have taken his nightly smoke breaks in life and continues to do so in death. A secondary set of reports describes a dark figure walking the dining floor after-hours and the sound of a woman weeping in the back-of-house areas.
The lore is multi-anchor and well documented in regional press, but no parish records, obituaries, or named historical individuals tie 'Mr. B' to a specific verified death on the property. Accounts here are sourced to the restaurant's staff and to tourism media; all paranormal claims are framed as 'according to' those sources.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Dine beneath the vaulted ceiling of an 1873 former church in Norfolk's Freemason historic district. The kitchen turns out award-winning she-crab soup, fresh seafood, and steaks; staff have shared accounts on camera and in local features of cupboards opening on their own and the distinct sense that the late owner 'Mr. B' has never quite left the storeroom.
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