Two Norfolk landmarks, currently under repair, are pictured here in the early 20th century. Battell Fountain was the gift of Mary Eldridge to the town in 1889. A Stanford White design with decorative bronze lamps and globe by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the fountain provides streams of water from several imaginative spouts. At the top of the pillar, water streams from the mouths of three aquatic creatures and, below, from a lion’s head, whose missing lower jaw has now been replicated. At the bottom of the basin, water flows through the heads of two dogs into small pools near the ground. Horses could drink from the large basin, and small animals from the shallow pools below. Beyond the fountain, rising up from the foliage, the Church of Christ steeple was considered such an iconic design when it was built in 1813 that several Congregational churches copied it, including those in East Canaan and Avon. The steeple was designed by David Hoadley, a master builder of outstanding skill, and it rises gracefully in two octagonal stages: the belfry with the chimes, and the lantern topped with a spire. The pastor’s son Thomas Robbins described the steeple as “tasty and elegant” when it was completed. The open square belfry of Battell Chapel, at the left, was covered at a later date with a pyramidal roof.

— Text by Ann Havemeyer
— Photo courtesy of the Norfolk Historical Society