The Martha's Vineyard Times

Return of Whaling Church bell will block Edgartown's Main Street Friday

April 27, 2011

File photo by Nis Kildegaard

The weathered bell was removed by crane in January. [More Photos]

Greg Blaine, of Blaine's Welding, told Edgartown selectmen Monday he plans to raise the restored church bell to the Old Whaling Church tower on Friday, April 28. Mr. Blaine spent the last three months repairing and refurbishing the 168-year-old bell.

The Baxter Crane Company extracted the 1,500-pound bronze bell cast in 1843 from the tower of the Old Whaling Church in January. The removal of the bell and all its mounting hardware is part of a restoration project by the Martha's Vineyard Preservation Trust, which owns the Old Whaling Church.

The operation will take about four hours, beginning at 8 am Friday. The section of Main Street from the monument at Pease's Point Way, to Church Street will be closed from 8am to about noon. Police officers will direct traffic along a detour route.