Church to remove 302-year-old golden weathervane
The golden rooster that keeps watch over Cambridge Common atop the spire of the First Church in Cambridge will be leaving Harvard Square after 150 years this fall, and the congregation will soon begin discussions on whether it should be sold and if they will install a replacement, church officials said.
The historic weathervane was created in 1721 by Shem Drowne, the same coppersmith who made the grasshopper on top of Faneuil Hall, and was designed for a church in Boston’s North End, according to the First Church.
At age 302, the weathervane itself is quite weathered on one side: video shot by a drone shows considerable erosion of the gilding on the right-facing side of the cockerel, especially along the tailfeathers, according to the Congregational church on Garden Street.
The church’s executive council voted unanimously in August to take the weathervane down to protect it from pollution and severe weather after consulting with experts in historic weathervanes and American folk art “who strongly advised removal as soon as possible,” the church said.
One expert who assessed the rooster called it a “magnificent example of an American weathervane, but more so, a magnificent example of American vernacular sculpture,” according to the church.
The rooster is person-sized, standing about 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing 173 pounds, according to Lindsay Miller, cochairperson of the church’s archives committee who has been researching the weathervane.
The church hopes to take it down as soon as possible, before it becomes any more damaged, and expects to remove it by the end of this month, Miller said. Preserving the historic work is the church’s first priority, she said, though the decision to take down such a beloved symbol was wrenching.
“People in Cambridge love the cockerel as much as people in the church do. It’s so visible from every area around the common,” said Miller, who can see the weathervane from the dining room window in her home on Memorial Drive. “One little kid called it ‘the Church of the Golden Chicken.’”
On Sunday at 11 a.m., the church will host a Blessing of the Animals during morning worship, as it does each year near St. Francis’ Day, and for the first time the rooster will be included, Miller said.