Steeplejack doing extensive work at Monson Community Church

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    MONSON — It’s not every day that Monson residents can watch someone climb up and down a church steeple.
    But for George Burgess, it’s just another workday.

Observer photo/Mike Lange

    CLASSIC WEATHERVANE — George Burgess estimates that the weathervane on the Monson Community Church steeple spire was crafted in the 1860s. The directional device will be re-gilded and reinstalled.

    The third-generation steeplejack has been doing major renovations to Monson Community Church and hopes to complete the job in a few weeks. “It all depends on the weather,” said Burgess, casting a wary eye at the cloudy skies last Wednesday.
    Burgess, who lives in Sandbar Tract Township just south of Rockwood, is doing a complete surface preparation and paint restoration of the steeple; applying new gold leaf or “gilding” the weathervane; raising the 1,600-pound church bell and repairing the stanchions; replacing all the shingles on the platform where the tower sits, and constructing a handrail around it. “In the old pictures, there was a railing up there,” Burgess said. “So I’m going to make it as close to original as possible.”
    The weathervane is a true classic, said Burgess. “I’d estimate that it was made around 1860,” he said.
    The church itself has an interesting history. It’s actually a combination of two buildings, according to the Monson Historical Society archives.
    Back in the 1930s, the Baptist and Congregational churches, both with small congregations, began a sharing agreement. Services were held in the summer for six months in the Baptist church and in the Congregational church in the winter for the remaining six months.
    “On June 26, 1957, by a vote of 8-7, a decision was made to move the Baptist Church from its location on Pleasant (Church) Street and physically join it to the Congregational church building, thus forming the Monson Community Church,” according to The History of Monson 1822-1997.
    The actual move took place on Aug. 14, 1959. “On that historic day the two churches finally merged their buildings into one well-designed structure on Main Street (now Greenville Road),” according to the town archives.
    In the fall of 1976, the Monson Community Church steeple was hit by lightning, rebuilt by Moosehead Manufacturing Company and replaced by a crane.
    Daryl Witner, who is now the chairman of the church’s board of directors, was pastor of Monson Community Church for 30 years, including the year of the lightning strike. “There’s a lot of history in that building,” he said. “It was actually the first church built in Maine between Bangor and the Canadian border back in 1840.”
    It was rebuilt after a fire in the 1861 and the weathervane is believed to have survived that blaze, Witner said. “So that would make it 153 years old – amazing,” he said.
    Witner said that the current project was made possible through a grant from the Maine Community Foundation’s Steeples Project, designed for churches with “historic, cultural and community significance.”
    Burgess inherited his love of the skill from his grandfather — who came to America from London, England — and his father, who he started to work with when he was 18. “I’ve been in it for 42 years, 38 with my own company,” Burgess said.
    Although he’s worked all over New England, Burgess said that he prefers to stay in Maine. “I’m building a new home in a beautiful spot and I want time to enjoy it,” he said.
    In the meantime, he climbs three ladders, often with a heavy tool belt and a load of shingles on his shoulder to heights that few people would venture.
    “It’s my job,” he said with a smile. “Wait till you see the finished product.”

Observer photo/Mike Lange

    GOING TO GREAT HEIGHTS — Steeplejack George Burgess is doing extensive work on the Monson Community Church steeple and bell tower and hopes to be finished in a few weeks.