By Ruth Melville

The “Raise the Steeple” committee of the Church of Christ Congregational has announced that it has been offered a grant of $200,000 from the State Historical Preservation Office (SHPO)—the largest grant it offers.

The grant is a reimbursement grant, which means that the state does not dispense the money until the work has been completed and inspected by SHPO.

The grant still needs to be approved by the church congregation. An all-church meeting will be held soon, so that church members can discuss the terms of the grant and decide whether to accept it. One stipulation likely to be a topic of debate is the preservation easement that requires that the church get approval from SHPO for any changes inside and outside the church for the next 20 years.

The Norfolk Congregational Church, built in 1813, was designed by David Hoadley, a noted Connecticut church architect, who also designed the North Church on the New Haven Green and the Congregational Church in Avon.

The steeple was removed for repair in December 2020. Over the years the wooden beams in the belfry and in the steeple had rotted and become unsafe. The plan for the restoration comprises replacing the old beams with steel ones, which will be encased in wood to look like the originals, and repairing the clock face, the gold leafing and the chimes. The new chimes will play the tune that Robbins Battell (1819-95) composed for the church.

Once the steeple was removed and placed in its cradle on the ground, the church formed the steeple committee to raise the funds required to complete its repair and restoration. The committee has in its account $481,000 in donations and grants from a range of individuals and organizations, and from fundraising events like the “Rock Around the Clock” dance party it held in January. Marie Civco, co-chair of the committee, says that the community has been extremely generous and “the outpouring of support has been amazing.”

The other members of the committee are co-chair Jan Graham-Jones, Hope Childs, Rowland Denny, Betsy Gill, Kate Johnson and the pastor of the church, the Rev. Erick Olsen. Ann Havemeyer and Barry Webber have served as consultants to the committee.

Of the money raised by the committee, $68,000 has been spent so far, primarily for the repair of the clock and for the plans prepared by GNCB Engineers, a firm based in Old Saybrook, Conn., that was recommended by SHPO. The cost of removing the steeple was about $98,000. An additional $9,600 will be needed to replace the lightning rods that were removed when the steeple was brought down.

When the committee submitted the grant to SHPO, the estimates for the project were over $400,000, but since then prices for some things have doubled. The committee won’t have a clear idea of the final cost until GNCB sends the project out to bid, hopefully at the end of January. If the congregation accepts the grant and the bidding process goes smoothly, construction could start in the spring.

Even with the SHPO grant, the church will likely have to spend a significant amount of the money it has raised. Civco’s hope, though, “is that we have money left over to have an endowment to pay for maintenance going forward. . . .We have to look to the future.”