After a hiatus of six months while being repaired, on Sunday, January 18 the bell forged in Paul Revere‘s foundry in 1875 began to ring again in the steeple of the East Boothbay United Methodist Church.

During the holidays, and the first two weeks of January, a team that specializes in the repairs of church belfries and other historic structures, Mid Maine Restoration, made the necessary repairs to the structure that holds the church bell. They worked 60 feet high in the open steeple in the cold and wind of the storms we had during that time.

The repair of the bell would not have been possible without the support of our community in response to the churches request for donations. Half of the money necessary to repair the bell was contributed by members of our community, including the congregation of the church. The other half was contributed by a nonprofit, the Maine Steeples Fund, that assists in the repair of historic steeples across Maine.

The honor of ringing the repaired bell for the first time went to Alan Lewis, a long time member and trustee of the church who has done more to maintain the condition of our historic church building than anyone. Those who contributed to the repair of the church bell are warmly invited to come and ring the bell at the beginning of our church service at 10:30 a.m. each Sunday morning (weather permitting).