The Rural We: Jack Rodhouse
The Becket resident and his wife are leading an effort to repair a structure that houses a prestigious bell.
Jack and Kathy Rodhouse
Going about our daily business, we don’t generally give much thought about the region’s Revolutionary War-era history. Until, that is, something like a bell originally crafted by Paul Revere, still in use, comes to the forefront. Jack Rodhouse and his wife, Kathy, are leading an effort to raise funds to save the Revere bell — the only one of its kind in Berkshire County — and the structure it hangs from at The First Congregational Church of Becket in Massachusetts. Here Rodhouse relates a bit of its history and what needs to happen to ensure the bell and belfry remain intact for, oh, the next couple of centuries.
I’ve lived in Becket for over 40 years, where my wife grew up, and worked in finance in Connecticut. I retired in 2012 and am a trustee at The First Congregational Church of Becket. It’s the third church built in Becket and it’s in the historic district in the center of town. It borders a cemetery with graves going back to Revolutionary War times.
The bell also goes back a long way. The current building was constructed around 1850 and needed a bell. A group of men went to Boston and hauled this one back. It was from the company Paul Revere started in the 1770s and after around 1800 his son joined the bell-making operation. They also made cannon and other heavy-cast parts. The sons carried on the business until the late 1820s. After that it became the Revere Company, now Revere Copper Products.
Unfortunately, it was like a lot of other Paul Revere bells — it cracked. In 1880 or so it was recast, and the story is they added 50 silver dollars to the mix to sweeten the sound. It hasn’t cracked since, and was in use until about a year ago, when we discovered a lot of damage to the structure of the belfry. There was extensive damage from powderpost beetles in the timber-frame structure that supports the bell and belfry. An engineer decided it wasn’t a good idea for us to be ringing the bell and swinging 800 pounds around.
The bell is still up there. A new belfry structure is being constructed off site in a shop. We’ll need a couple of cranes — one to remove the bell, another to remove the existing belfry. The new belfry will be constructed exactly as it was, using the old methods. The whole project is going to cost around $250,000. We’re using GoFundMe and other means of raising money. We’re fortunate that the town has community preservation funds and voted to use $100,000 of the historic preservation funds for this project.
The project should be completed before winter. The bell is usually rung on Sundays and other special occasions. For example, when COVID hit, someone organized a bell ringing. On a particular day, everyone who had a bell would ring it to support first responders.
To work the Revere bell, you need a fair amount of strength. Usually some younger folks from the church are selected to ring it. It’s a great honor for them.
