By Rev. Rebecca Bryan

I first experienced our beloved and majestic steeple when I was here visiting as a prospective minister last February. My husband and I arrived in town a little early and were immediately drawn to its charm. We were walking back to the Garrison Inn after dinner on Saturday evening when we stopped on the sidewalk across from the church to look up at the steeple. It was beautiful. I asked my husband if he thought it was safe for me to take some photos. “Of course,” he replied. “No one is going to see you. Go ahead.” So I did. 

It was only a few months ago, after I had been called here and had been serving for a short time that I learned the rest of this story. 

In fact, we were being watched as we took those photographs. Sophia Lyons, one of the Search Committee members, was driving home and saw Bart and me standing there gazing adoringly up at the steeple. As she tells the story, as soon as she saw us, she slinked down into her seat to get as close to the steering wheel as possible so that we wouldn’t see her. She then immediately called the other members of the Search Committee to let them know what she had seen. “I think it’s a good sign! Don’t you?” She asked. 

Indeed, this church building, its steeple, and the weathercock do have quite a history in this town. It is my honor to share with you some of the highlights of this history. I will not be discussing the most recent steeple restoration, though that is clearly an essential part of its history moving forward.

Before I go any further, I need to thank some people whose work laid the foundation for this service. Linda Tulley’s research on the steeple was invaluable. Jon Steeves and Bill Heenahan met with me and regaled me with stories and history. Also critical was the two-volume history of this congregation, the first  written by Minnie Atkinson and the second overseen by Anne White, Lindsay Cavanagh, and Pat Skibbee.

 Finally, I thank Les Ferlazo, who took me on an impromptu visit to the Newbury Historical Society and introduced me in person to the weathercock. As of last year, the weathercock is being appropriately and lovingly cared for by the Historical Society, and we have a replica of the weathercock on top of the steeple. This win-win arrangement guarantees its long-term safety and, thanks to an anonymous generous donor to the Historical Society, allowed us to nearly complete our fundraising campaign for the most recent steeple restoration. 

This church has been a haven for people in this city for nearly 300 years. Its original building, built in 1725, was in Market Square. When the church outgrew that space, it built this building on what was referred to at the time as “the Rock Lot,” which was indeed on rock foundation. Reverend Laurence Hayward, minister here from 1905 until 1948, wrote that the ledge under this building “…runs down to Market Square and was the foundation of the old church”. The new church was completed in 1801 for $26,750.10. No one is sure of the architect though legend has it to be Timothy Palmer of Salem who built the Essex-Merrimac bridge in 1792. On October 2, 1801, the whole town marched from the site of the old church to dedicate the new church building.

The church is the oldest intact church building in Newburyport and has had its share of restoration activities. It was amazing reading through building committee reports from 1958 through the 2000s. These included, among many other accounts, a complete ledger of all the work done during Vincent Wood’s time and a report by Jim Kidd in 1990 highlighting the replacement of flood lights in the Steeple with less than half of the electrical wattage. 

The steeple fell into a state of disrepair in 1946. The $30,000 price tag to repair it was more than the congregation could handle at the time, so it was actually removed from the church for three years. Can you imagine this building without its iconic steeple!?  To put this in context $30,000 in 1946 would have bought you one of the mansions on High Street.

Similar to what happened in our most recent steeple restoration project, the funds were eventually raised to restore the steeple. This was a collective effort of the entire community with fundraising tallies listed in the Newburyport Daily News. In addition to community support, the church used the proceeds of the sale of their building called “St. Peter’s Chapel” located in the south end of town, which had been used for religious education. The American Unitarian Association also gave the church a $10,000 interest free loan. 

The congregational fundraising for the project was led by John P Marquand, Pulitzer Prize winning author and active member of the congregation. Marquand was the great nephew of Margaret Fuller, a Unitarian and influential member of the transcendentalists. He lived with his aunts in Newburyport after his family lost their fortunes. His writings were mostly satires about upper class life, with specific focus on New England. 

In his speech entitled “The Spire Above Yankee City,” given at the start of the fundraising, Marquand said this about the steeple, “…we must not consider this building solely as a religious edifice but instead as what it also is, a work of art and a monument to the spirit and thought of the age which conceived it…In the balance and simplicity of everything around us there is a sense of serenity, and a reminder of a spirit that rises above mundane things… Something of that spire belonged to all of us and so it was more than the property of any single religious sect.”

Indeed, this church is a work of art. 

One can’t talk about the history of the steeple without talking about its weathercock, which stands proud upon the top of the steeple, some 56 feet above the ground. It is a gilded sheet copper cock weathervane, 31 inches high, made of gilt sheet copper and iron. In her report to the Mass Historical Society, Tempa Pagel stated that the cock was taken down “at least five times” including adding new copper balls and shaft in 1939 and re-gilding it in 1839, 1857, 1880 and 1949. Subsequently, it was re-gilded again in 1998. We have one record showing payment for the re-gilding in 1857 costing $20. 

Longtime member Marise Fraser wrote that the weathercock sustained significant challenges including the horrible fire of 1811, the 1938 Hurricane, and the blizzard of 1988. Its maker has been a mystery until very recently. The name of its maker had worn off in the elements, and for a long time, folks thought that it had been brought over from Europe. More recently experts identified it as clearly being American Folk Art, and possibly made by Thomas Drowne. Most recently, Susan Edwards, Executive Director of the Historical Society, confirmed through an article in the Newburyport Herald in 1839 that it was Thomas’s father, Shem Drowne, who made this weathercock. We know based on the date of the article and Thomas Drowne’s birth date that he would have been too young to have designed our weathercock. 

This designates it as one of only five weathervanes made by Shem Drowne, the first American weathervane maker. His work is famous throughout Boston and includes the rooster adorning the top of the First Church of Cambridge, one on Old North Church, the grasshopper on the cupola of Faneuil Hall, and his first, the Indian Archer, which today is in the front hallway of the Massachusetts Historical Society’s building. 

Allow me to digress with a bit of weathervane history. As recorded in Charles Klamkin’s extensive book on the history and meaning of weathervanes, the earliest weathervane on record was built by Andronicus in Athens during the 1st Century and sat atop the Tower of the Winds. 

Around 973 a papal edict declared that the symbol of a rooster be on top of every church as a reminder of Peter’s betrayal of Christ as told in the Gospel of Luke, “I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before thou shall thrice deny that thou knowest me.”

Klamkin goes on to write that the rooster was a reminder to people to not repeat that sin and to come to church. It is also a symbol to remind people to pray first thing in the morning. Weathervanes were also used on Vikings ships and, for the longest time, were the only way to predict weather. 

Perhaps the most famous story linked to our weathervane and steeple has to do with Benjamin Franklin. The true story is that Benjamin Franklin confirmed that lighting is electricity from an experience with the steeple of our Market Square church.

I will share this in his words. This is Benjamin Franklin writing to James Birkett March 1, 1755 “…in my late Journey I saw an Instance of a very great Quantity of Lightning conducted by a Wire no bigger than a common Knitting Needle. It was at Newbury in New England, where the Spire of the Church Steeple being 70 foot in height above the Belfry was split all to pieces and thrown about the Street in Fragments, from the Bell down to the Clock, plac’d in the Steeple 20 foot below the Bell, there was the small Wire abovemention’d which communicated the Motion for the Clock to the Hammer striking the Hour on the Bell. As far as the Wire extended, no Part of the Steeple was hurt by the Lighting, nor the Steeple surprizingly.” He signed this correspondence, “excuse this Scrawl which I have not time to copy fair. B. Franklin” 

We have brought up some treasures from the steeple and weathercock to share with you today. You can see on your way out of the sanctuary one of the original acorns that frames the top of the steeple. The acorns, which had been wood, with the most recent renovation are now fiberglass. We also have the mold that was used to make the replica of the weathercock that currently sits atop the steeple. Finally, we have two pieces of the clock that Benjamin Franklin referred to, including the hour hand piece which he mentioned. 

The truly invaluable thing about this steeple, however, is the influence it has had on people. Whether it is a guiding light for a shipwrecked Frenchman or a source of beauty for a 20^th century businessman and his son, our steeple, and this church, are iconic. 

The Bulletin of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities says it best in their issue from October 1947: “It is not alone a possession belonging to the church itself, but rather one in which every individual in the community can and does share.” 

This church is an integral part of the fabric of this community and this region. May we steward it with care and hold open our doors, so that all who seek it find solace, inspiration, and home. 

Amen and Blessed Be