Rising 120 feet over downtown Warren, the graceful tiered steeple atop the United Methodist Church is one of the most prominent points in Warren, so much so that mariners’ charts from the late 1800s show it clearly as a landmark.
The wooden church was built in 1845, when Warren was flush with money from the whaling industry. While that way of life long ago ended here, the church remains. The massive edifice has weathered hurricanes and 171 years of weather, and if you make the climb up into the spire on a windy day you can feel it swaying in the breeze.
Now, the steeple needs about $125,000 of work and fund-raisers are underway to help raise the money.
“It gives character to the town, and whether you go to church or not it’s so recognizable,” said Marcia Blount, whose family has worshipped at the church for four generations. She remembers not just climbing up into the tower as a kid, but attending countless weddings, funerals and Sunday services in the worship space below.
“We’re doing this not just for the church but to preserve the skyline of Warren.”
Members of the United Methodist Church’s board of trustees have just started on a multi-year project to rehabilitate the entire church. While they expect the entire project to cost upwards of $500,000, the first on the list of projects is the $125,000 spire and belfry restoration. The church has some structural problems and water damage that can be traced in part back to the leaky tower above. Through next Spring, workers from Yankee Scaffolding will be replacing windows along the upper sections of the tower, and workers will also caulk, perform carpentry repairs and paint the structure. The plan includes pulling out the wooden clock faces and restoring them; though the clockworks themselves won’t be restored, church members hope to get to that one day.
“First things first,” Ms. Blount said.
The work is made possible through $22,000 in in-kind work from T-Mobile, which has cell phone arrays up in the spire, as well as grants. Church members — who as stewards of the church are responsible for upkeep — are also receiving $18,000 from the Lucy Holcombe Charitable Foundation, and $7,500 from the Warren Heritage Foundation (of which Ms. Blount is president). They are also seeking an additional $50,000 in grants. If those come through, church members will have to raise about $25,000 on their own.
Next weekend’s fund-raiser is the first of several. It will start at the State Street home of Sandy Scott, and guests will slowly make their way over to the church for a gourmet dinner. There will be music and a silent auction, too (see sidebar).
For Ms. Blount, the spire has been a constant throughout her life. She remembers going up as a kid, and once found initials carved way up in the tower by her father, the late Luther Blount, some time in the 1920s. Though workers did some structural repairs on the tower about a decade ago, she said the time has come for a more thorough, comprehensive approach. If church members are able to raise the necessary funds and complete the entire project, the spire should serve as a landmark to mariners coming up the river for another 170 years.
The good news, she said, is that once they complete the spire work, the rest of the church restoration will be relatively straightforward.
The church was built with massive timbers brought down from New Hampshire, and they’re solid as ever.
“The bones are good,” she said. “The wood is seasoned timber that is better than anything new. it’s just a matter of protecting it; that’s the reason why we focused on the steeple. We wanted to start at the top.”