Contributor
By Jesse A. Floyd, Belmont Voice staff
For the first time in nearly two decades, the clock in the tower of the Belmont Unitarian Universalist Church is keeping accurate time after extensive renovation.
Some of the work on the mechanics of the timepiece came from the Community Preservation Act, money set aside for, among other things, the preservation of historic places and things.
The grant for the work was $26,100. The work cost $20,321, well under budget. The balance will remain in the Community Preservation Fund.
According to a release, the clock was first installed in the building in 1890. The bell once hung in the church’s first home in Belmont Center. It was cast in the 1850s.
The clock has been motionless since 2006, stalled by an accumulation of atmospheric grime.
The church and the Belmont Citizens Forum applied for a grant in 2021. The request was approved in 2022, and the contract was given to David W. Graf Clock Repair of Kittery, Maine.
Over the ensuing months, the clock was disassembled and taken for cleaning and restoration. The original hands, made of cedar, were removed and replicated in aluminum.
The 970-pound bell, which relied on massive weights to ring, was connected to an electrical device, and now strikes the hour once again.
As part of the work, access to the tower was improved—someone still has to hand-wind the four-faced clock weekly and an intimidating ladder has been replaced by steep but manageable stairs.
Tuesday, CPC Chair Elizabeth Dionne got a first-hand look at the work during a project completion walk-through.
