First Parish Church Bell Tower - Portland, ME
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 43° 39.504 W 070° 15.481
19T E 398562 N 4834702
"The 186-year-old structure atop First Parish Church is being refurbished to match the original, even the wood" - Portland Press Herald
Waymark Code: WMK837
Location: Maine, United States
Date Posted: 02/26/2014
Views: 9
County of bell: Cumberland County
Location of bell: First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, Portland
Bell installed in tower: 1826
"The First Parish Church's steeple is about to undergo the first major renovation since it was built -- not bad, considering it's 186 years old.
"The job includes removing the uppermost part of the steeple, the belfry, and hauling it to Vermont for repairs.
"Jenks said the last significant repairs were in 1977. The company hired for the job this time said the 1977 work was structurally sound, but not historically accurate." - Portland Press Herald January 30, 2012
Great History occured in and around this church:
1. The Constitution of the State of Maine was drafted here 1819
2. "In 1832 abolitionist William Loyd-Garrison spoke here to 2,000 people on his first Maine anti-slavery tour. In 1842 First Parish was the site of a pro-slavery riot when radical abolitionist, Stephen Symonds Foster, was nearly murdered for criticizing the churches' and New England's role in promoting, perpetuating and profiting from slavery. Women helped to defend him." - Protland freedom Tarail
3. "Also symbolic of that ideal is a cannonball-embellished chandelier hanging in the church's parish hall. The cannonball, fired on the church by British troops in 1775, bounced off its outer walls and was saved as a token signifying resilience in troubled times." - Portland Press Herald, December 4, 2010.