Church Restoration Project

Bennington’s Old First Church tower

The lantern was successfully returned to the top of the steeple on the brisk morning of October 16. There was wind… but the ultimate decision was to go ahead. The community gathered and watched with anticipation. The crew adjusted, lifted, adjusted… finally lifted the tower up and over and set it so each mortise in the beams of the crab (the base of the tower) was over the right tenon below it. It’s a scribed timber frame meaning each mortise only fits over one tenon. The view of the crab from below shows those slots in the beams. Master preservationist and timber framer, Jan Lewandowski, was up there making sure it all fit. Then he rang the church bell and we all cheered!

Bennington's Old First Church, built 1805, needed steeple repairs in the 1980’s. The posts around the open belfry were rotten. The lantern was removed. It sat in front of the church for several months. Here is the template for the ‘windows’, 33”wide x 72” tall. On it is a note (written by my friend, local joiner and historian, Charles Dewey, who worked on it), “SAVE …template for the steeple lantern false windows, 1984 restoration”. The windows are painted on.

That post is the center post for the lantern. The slots are 'mortises' which will hold the 'tenons', the tongues of the beams which will support the frame. One is set in already. At the bottom you can see the 8 sided base - it looks rather like a wheel with the spokes sticking through. It is held together with the same mortises, tenons, and wooden pegs. This is very sophisticated timber framing done by a Master Builder, Lavius Fillmore, and his Master Carpenter, Oliver Able, in 1804-5. Our Master Builder, Jan Lewandowski, has rebuilt the lantern following the old pattern of the original parts which had been 'fixed', stabilized' and 'repaired' but were rotting away because of a leaky roof.

Learn more about our Plan.