HAMPSTEAD — Way atop the Old Meeting House, a long-time resident of Hampstead will celebrate 200 years in town next month: a bell cast by Paul Revere Jr.
"We just thought it'd be nice to have a little birthday party," town historian Maurice Randall said.
The Old Meeting House has stood in Hampstead since 1745; the belfry was added in 1792. It was used as a Congregational church and as the town's meeting space, Randall said.
"But there was no bell," he said.
In the early 1800s, a Massachusetts man who summered in Hampstead told the minister he would donate a bell to the church as long as they could go to Brookfield, Mass., to get it.
They went in secret to collect the bell, Randall said, and there are two tales about its arrival. One story says a carpenter built a frame between two trees to hang it from, and another says it hung from the limb of a great oak tree on Main Street.
Both stories have the bell being hung in the night and then rung first thing in the morning.
"The next morning, they began ringing the bell and everybody ran to see what it was," Randall said.
But he said he doubts the hanging-by-night aspect of the story.
"It weighs over 1,200 pounds," he said. "It's a pretty damn heavy thing to get up in the middle of the night."
The bell is inscribed "Revere Boston," and was likely cast by the patriot's son, Paul Jr., Randall said.
"I think it's the only one known right now still in existence," he said.
Also inscribed on the bell is the phrase, "The living to the church I call, and to the grave I summons all."
Rob Morris, president of the Hampstead Historical Society, said the bell was an integral part of town in the 1800s. It rang when there was a fire to put out, a meeting to attend or a death to mourn.
"It was rung for any time that they wanted to gather the public together," Morris said. "If you heard the bell ring, you went to the Meeting House to see what was happening."
In more modern times, the bell sounds every Independence Day. But it is not rung, for fear of damaging its original wooden yoke. Instead, the town tolls the bell — swinging the clapper against the bell rather than the bell against the clapper. Morris said the town has been trying to raise money to repair the yoke in order to swing the bell again.
Bob Pothier of First Period Colonial in Kingston, who has worked on the Old Meeting House in the past, said that while steeples adorned with a bell were common for meeting houses and churches in the 1800s, not many exist today.
"Over the years, the steeple where the bell is mounted can go into disrepair, and it is usually quite expensive," Pothier said.
Bells often are taken down from the steeple if the structure has become dangerous, he said, with some being displayed or others stored away and even forgotten.
"A lot of buildings have actually lost theirs," he said.
Even though the bell in Hampstead hangs where it always has, Morris said, some people may not notice it. But he said this year's holiday parade theme, "Christmas Bells," in honor of the anniversary, should draw some attention to it. The parade is Dec. 13 at 2 p.m.
To celebrate the anniversary, the bell will be available for tolling on Dec. 19, from 1 to 4 p.m., Randall said.
"I think there's a surprising number of people that are not aware of the bell," Morris said. "I think it's nice of the public to realize what we have up there. It is something pretty special."
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