Housed in a new steeple, a bell forged by Paul Revere’s son is back in place above a historic Durham building.
By Daniel Hartill
Staff Writer

DURHAM – The copper dome spun slowly in the sky, suspended a few feet above the Union Church’s new steeple.

Momentarily visible from the ground, the dome’s wooden frame turned like spokes on a wheel. People gaped from across the street, snapping pictures and shooting videos.

“I’d forgotten how tall it was,” said Jack Holmes, a Durham resident who drove by Wednesday morning, then rushed home for a camera.

“I’ve been watching since they took the top off,” Holmes said.

Meanwhile, steeplewright Robert Hanscom of Greene guided the dome into its place, crowning the 168-year-old building.

Built in 1835 as a home for several Christian denominations – hence the title, Union Church – the building has been a town centerpiece for years. One of several aging churches in Durham, this one then served as the town hall for more than 60 years before closing in 1986.

It was a place everyone knew and visited, said Maxine Herling, president of the Durham Historical Society. It also had a rare asset.

In its tower, there was a Revere bell.

According to the society’s research, Maine churches have about 25 Revere bells, made by the family of America’s most famous horseman, Paul Revere.

“We think this one was made by his son, Joseph,” said Margaret Wentworth, the society’s vice president.

So when the society decided it wanted to save the old church from decay, “Save the Bell” became its motto.

The drive to fix the Union Church began six or seven years ago, Herling and Wentworth agreed.

Owned by the town and used by the Historical Society as a kind of museum, the building was suffering from neglect.

Paint had peeled away and the once-white church had turned a ghostly gray.

“It was a genuine eyesore,” Herling said. “It looked awful.”

Meanwhile, there were structural problems. The steeple was crumbling. So, the society began raising money.

To date, they have gathered about $33,000 in donations, just enough to pay Hanscom for the steeple work, who donated $2,000 of his fee back to the project.

In January, he removed the old steeple. It became the model for the new one he built in his Greene workshop.

Hanscom has done this specialized work all over Maine, including projects in Waterville, Winthrop, Ellsworth and Bowdoinham.

On Tuesday, he moved the new steeple to Durham by truck. Wednesday morning, a crane lifted the eight-sided steeple into place, with the Revere bell already inside.

The bell could be seen through the steeple’s open arches. “It looks great up there,” said Holmes, after taking his pictures.

dhartill@sunjournal.com

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