CHESTERVILLE – Following a six-month restoration, the Chesterville Center Union Meeting House bell tower was returned to its home on top of the Meeting House on Friday, May 22.
Work on the project began in November 2019 with removal of the 1,000-pound bell and the upper section of the bell tower with a crane. Long-time area contractor Ron Castonguay had the bell tower trucked to his shop in Leeds where the restoration proceeded during the winter months. Both the lower “bell deck” roof and the upper tier roof were replaced with standing seam metal roofing, new red oak timbers were milled, joined, and fastened to provide a new cradle structure for the bell, and the felloes which make up the wooden rim of the bell wheel were replaced with native white ash. Other work included some limited repairs to the bell tower framing, boarding, and trim, and a thorough paint job. While the tower was down, a critical reinforcement was also made to stabilize the queen post truss which spans the building attic and supports the north side of the bell tower.
Resources for the $39,650 project included grants from the Maine Community Foundation and the Maine Steeples Fund, the Davis Family Foundation, and the Narragansett Number One Foundation. At the local level, a very generous response to a town-wide fundraising appeal in the spring of 2019, as well as benefit performances by the Franklin County Fiddlers and Down-East humorist Tim Sample all helped raise critical matching funds for the project. Early work on the project included a careful preliminary assessment by Maine Preservation in June of 2017, and an engineering assessment and design plan by Lincoln/Haney Engineering Associates, Inc. of Brunswick in the fall of 2017.
The “steel alloy” Meeting House bell was cast in Hillsboro Ohio by the C.S. Bell & Co. between 1882 and 1894. It is unknown whether the bell was purchased by the Chesterville parish at the time of its manufacture or acquired at a somewhat later date. With the tower back in place and with safe use of the bell once again made possible, a small but distanced gathering of Chesterville residents and supporters of the Meeting House celebrated Memorial Day with a 21-chime salute to honor the occasion and all those being remembered for their service and sacrifice to the country.
Constructed in 1851 and the local house of worship for a century and a half, the Chesterville Center Union Meeting House today is a non-profit community resource providing a venue for community gatherings and events including arts, music, education, and enrichment. Meeting House organizers are deeply grateful for the community support shown for the bell tower project. For additional information about the Meeting House and to see more photos of the restoration and other recent projects, visit www.chestervillemeetinghouse.org.
As an inhabitant of Hillsboro, Ohio, where this bell was cast. I appreciate this story. May it ring for many years to come. Thank you.
Great to hear about the restoration of this bell and bell tower! It was made by the Hillsboro, Ohio, company founded by my great-great-grandfather Charles Singleton Bell – yes, his name was Bell and he made bells. I look forward to seeing it in person, since I live in Maine.
Great news! I knew Ron Castonguay would do an awesome job of restoring the tower–he is a fine craftsman!