CPC tours Church on the Hill

LENOX – The town’s community preservation committee (CPC) took a tour of the Church on the Hill to learn about its history and keep abreast of ongoing renovations.

The tour was given by Dr. Robert Brown, who has been a parishioner at the Church on the Hill for over 40 years. In addition to the members of the CPC, Lenox Town Planner Mary Albertson was also in attendance.

The Church on the Hill was built in 1805. Dr. Brown revealed, however, it was not the first building the congregation used in Lenox, as they originally utilized a small 46-by-36-foot meeting house that stood somewhere in what is now the church’s cemetery.

Money for the construction of the church was raised chiefly by auctioning off the pews, a custom once common in New England churches. The church’s frame is made out of hand hewn beams. Dr. Brown talked about the Church on the Hill’s clock, which actually belongs to the town, and has been in place since 1899. He also showed the CPC the church’s organ, which dates to 1868.

The church asked for CPC funds to repair its steeple earlier this year and received $45,300 for this purpose after the funding was approved at Town Meeting. Dr. Brown said that the church recently accepted a bid for the project from contractor Tom Moore and is awaiting construction plans. Construction is expected to begin sometime this fall.

A number of the church’s other recent renovations, including the ongoing replacement of the church’s shutters and the replacement of the church’s siding, have been paid for by the congregation and used no CPC funding.

When asked what capital projects the church might undertake over the next five years by CPC Member Kathleen McNulty-Vaughan, Dr. Brown pointed to the church’s furnace, which was installed in the 1960s, as a probable area that may soon need work.

“I think that’s the next major hurdle we have to look at,” he said.

Dr. Brown added that the congregation currently moves down to the chapel for services in the winter because the furnace uses so much fuel oil. The church is looking into converting to natural gas heating to solve this problem, and there are plans to start a fund drive to help pay for it.

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on September 27, 2012. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry