by Joan Eliyesil ·
Friday, August 30, 2024
Early Monday morning, Aug. 26, a crane hoisted a reconstructed and newly repainted balustrade onto the belfry atop the former 1832 Baptist Church in Still River, now home of the Harvard Historical Society. For several years the railing had been deteriorating and had recently become a potential danger.
The placing of the balustrade marked the completion of a major restoration project of the society. The old balustrade was removed and reconstructed by Mike Moran Painters of Harvard. The project was paid for with contributions from members and other private citizens, and by grants from Freedom’s Way and the 1772 Foundation through Preservation Massachusetts, for which society president Steve Abrams had applied.
A donated crane hoists the reconstructed balustrade to the belfrey on the Historical Society meetinghouse, Aug. 26.(Courtesy photo)
In 2000 the necessity to restore the bell, shore up the belfry, and repair the balusters led to a major restoration of the building for which the society received a large grant from Massachusetts Historical Commission. After 20 years, the balustrade had badly deteriorated and begun falling down in pieces. First, a corner post, then a whole side fence, then another and another. The last pieces fell over and remained on the belfry roof until last week.
Not only did this pose a safety hazard, but the balustrade is one of many historical architectural features that the society must maintain in accordance with the building’s listing on the National Historic Register.
Denis Wagner, past president and longtime member in charge of buildings and grounds, described the process by which Moran restored the structure—and the unexpected snafu. Moran cut and prepared the pieces in his shop over the winter. He was planning to do the assembly on top of the belfry, but once he had his lift and retrieved the remaining old pieces from the belfry, he realized there was nothing there to hold the pieces up as he was assembling them. At that point he recognized that he would need to assemble the balustrade on the ground and hire a crane to hoist the finished structure to the top of the belfry. In anticipation of that, Wagner called around for a crane and reached out to Yankee Steeplejack Company, located in town on Littleton County Road.
The company’s owner, Tom Evarts, who lives in Concord but has had his business in Harvard for about 15 years, offered to fund the whole placement, using Cavelier Crane Service and supplying his people to position the balustrade. Wagner said how grateful the society is for his help and generosity. In an email, Evarts said, “The part of the job that we performed was very small and it felt like a nice way to give back to the Harvard community.”