I couldn’t help but grin and glow with a smug sense of historic presence as I gripped tightly onto the 309 year old church bell as it wildly swung in its wooden frame. I rode in the back of a red pickup truck that carried our 1702 bell. It was a beautiful September Sunday morning as we processed south on 2nd Street. The journey from 2nd and Market Streets to Saint Peter’s Church was a mission to help them celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of that church.
The trip began inside Christ Church at the start of the 9 am service. The Rector said a few words, some of the youngest parishioners rang the historic bell a few times, and then we wheeled the bell out to the courtyard. A group of parishioners from both churches gathered to jointly march from our service to the service at Saint Peter’s. We followed with our bell in an attempt to recreate the events of 1761. When Saint Peter’s originally opened, a group of parishioners and church leaders marched from Christ Church to Saint Peter’s with this bell to kick off their first service. Our vestry minutes described the procession that details the sexton, clergy, and wardens leading the way. That is pretty much the people who were in the truck as we went to church on Sunday. I do wonder how long the original procession took because the muddy grounds and bad roads that made it difficult to travel to Christ Church is the reason Saint Peter’s was built. Not many people were on the streets to witness this event as we paraded down the sleepy Sunday morning street with a 309 year old bell in the back of a borrowed gravedigger’s truck. I must admit I did get chills when I rang the bell as we passed by Bishop White’s house and the homes of others connected to our history, including John Penn’s house that was a pit stop on the first trip.
When we arrived at St. Peter’ Church, a nice size crowd greeted us and helped remove the bell and place it outside the church doors. The celebration and service was great and I even got to meet the Mayor again. All in all, the parishioners of Saint Peter’s put on a great birthday bash and I was happy to be a small part of it. There was a picnic in the churchyard as we quietly re-loaded the bell on the truck and brought it back home to Christ Church. I was a bit concerned that Saint Peter’s might think that the bell was a birthday gift, and I was relieved when it returned to the north aisle of Christ Church.
The whole day made me think of Henry Harrison who is buried in our burial ground. He was the vestryman responsible for the creation of Saint Peter’s. I always like to include Mayor Harrison in my tours because after all he was the person who had the idea for the lottery that raised money for the steeple of Christ Church, even though Franklin, who sold the tickets, often gets that credit.
Now I must go to wish a happy 274th birthday to Francis Hopkinson!
- Hop
P.S. I also recommend a new way to look at history by checking out my colleague, Neil's blog at www.historymadefresh.blogspot.com - New posts frequently!
