history, heritage and hope

History,Heritage and

Hope

History,Heritage and

Hope

Text By Matthew M. Bellocchio ◆ Photos By William T. Van Pelt

2005 Southeastern Massachusetts(“The Old Colony”) Convention

2005 Southeastern Massachusetts(“The Old Colony”) ConventionText By Matthew M. Bellocchio ◆ Photos By William T. Van Pelt

Vol. 49, No. 1 The TRACKER 5

2005 SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS (“THE OLD COLONY”) CONVENTION

6 The TRACKER Vol. 49, No. 1

The theme of our fiftieth annual conven-tion will be History, Heritage and Hope. TheOld Colony area of Massachusetts has a longand fascinating history that stretches fromthe Wampanoag Indians, to the Pilgrims,Portuguese, French Canadian, Irish, Polish andother immigrants who helped weave the richhuman tapestry of this area that we willexplore. The Old Colony has a rich heritage ofhistoric churches, remarkable architecture andnoteworthy organs that we will visit. The OldColony is also a land of hope, where a number ofnow famous people began journeys that wouldultimately define their lives. The Pilgrims,architect Richard Upjohn, abolitionist StephenDouglas, novelist Herman Melville, and organbuilder Ernest M. Skinner, to name just a few.We invite you to come to The Old Colony, tolearn its history, to enjoy its heritage, and tohelp, by our collective presence, to keep hopealive for some of the remarkable instrumentswe will visit.

The convention will run from Tuesdayevening 12 July to Monday night 18 July: sixfull days plus one evening. We will hear organsbuilt by over eighteen different firms, fromnationally famous companies to lesser-knownlocal builders. We will hear the work of distin-guished Massachusetts builders, includingHook, Hutchings, Johnson, Simmons, Stevensand Skinner. We will hear fourteen Hookorgans, a one-hundred-year sampling of thecompany’s work from the 1830s to the 1930s,including even a theater organ! We will hearthe largest organs in the region, and also someof the smallest. We will hear a total of thirty-eight instruments during this convention. But,despite this large number, we will not feel

rushed. Because this convention will focus on arelatively small geographical area, we will spendless time riding buses and more time hearingorgans. There will also be time each afternoonto stop and admire the architecture and otherpoints of interest.

Our convention headquarters will be at thenewly refurbished Radisson Hotel in Brockton,where we have negotiated a special room ratefor this convention. Exhibits and a cash bar willbe open each night after our return to the hotel.For those who prefer less expensive lodgings,we have also reserved rooms at the Super 8Brockton, just across the Radisson parking lot.Both hotels are conveniently located in theWestgate Mall, a large outdoor shopping plazaon the outskirts of Brockton at the intersectionof Routes 24 and 27. This mall is twenty-twomiles south of Boston and thirty-five milesnortheast of Providence, Rhode Island.

Those who plan to fly and use public trans-portation should fly to Boston’s LoganInternational Airport (BOS) and take theLogan Express bus to Braintree (south ofBoston). The hotel will provide complimentaryshuttle service from the Braintree bus depot forthose who make arrangements in advance.(Further details will be provided on the con-vention registration form.) Those who chooseto fly and then rent a car should fly into T.F.Green Airport (PVD) in Providence, RhodeIsland. This airport, conveniently located onemile off I-95, is less crowded than Logan, andis served by all the major carriers. There isample free parking at the convention hotel.

Convention registration will include alllunches and dinners for the six full days(Wednesday through Monday): twelve meals in

all. Among these will be a dinner in a formerchurch sanctuary (complete with organ), a tastyPortuguese buffet, a real New England clam-bake, an authentic Pilgrim feast, and an elegantdinner at an historic private club. Conventionattendees need only be responsible for theirdinner on the opening Tuesday evening andbreakfast each day. In addition to the hotelrestaurant, there are several popular chainrestaurants in the Westgate Mall, which iswithin walking distance of the hotel.

Tuesday Evening, 12 JulyOur convention will begin with an evening

recital. Registration will be available that after-noon until 6:00 p.m. Early arrivals may wish toexplore some of the many nearby stores in theWestgate Mall. Dinner will be on your own forthis first evening.

The buses will depart the hotel at 6:15p.m. to take us to our first recital, outside theOld Colony area in Providence. Like thePlymouth Colony, Providence was founded bya refugee from the established church. RogerWilliams, a Puritan minister, was banishedfrom the Massachusetts Bay Colony forespousing the radical idea that each personhad the right to religious freedom. In 1636 hepurchased land from the Narraganset Indiansand named his settlement Providence in grati-tude for “God’s merciful providence.”

Our opening program will take place at theFirst Church of Christ Scientist in Providence’shistoric College Hill neighborhood, nearBrown University. This area, the site ofWilliams’s original settlement, contains manyelegant Colonial and Federal period houses.

In 1620 a group of English separatists ended their quest for economic independence and religious freedomwhen their small ship Mayflower finally landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Thus began the first permanentEnglish settlement in New England. In time the Plymouth Colony grew to encompass all of what is nowSoutheastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Islands, and the easternpart of Rhode Island. The colony existed until 1692, when it was incorporated into the Massachusetts BayColony. Today the legacy of the old Plymouth Colony still lives on in its churches, historical societies and

museums, where nearly four centuries of history and tradition are preserved. In 1966 the eleventh annual OHS Convention visited the “Cape and Islands” of the Old Colony area. This year’s

convention will visit the mainland area. It seems appropriate that for the Society’s fiftieth annual convention in 2005we emulate the first gathering of 1956 by exploring new territory.

One block away from the church is ProspectTerrace Park, which offers a stunning view ofthe city below. This small park was a favoritehaunt of horror fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft,who lived nearby.

At the First Church of Christ ScientistPeter Krasinski will play the large three-manu-al 1912 Hutchings (Opus 1637). The churchis an attractive beaux arts building with a cross-gable plan and tall central dome completed in1913. The design by Hoppin & Field wasmodeled after the Christian Science MotherChurch in Boston.

Wednesday 13 JulyWe will begin the first full day of our Old

Colony convention by dividing into twogroups as we board buses for repeated pro-grams on two instruments in the Bridgewaterarea. Bridgewater was originally a plantation ofDuxbury, and was bought by Myles Standishfrom Massasoit, Chief of the Wampanoagtribe, in 1649. Originally called Satucket, thepurchase included all of what is now EastBridgewater, West Bridgewater, Brockton andBridgewater. The town was incorporated twoyears later, and in 1658 the town was grantedownership of the great Hockomock Swamp.The presence of bog iron in the Old Colonyled to the development of iron-based manufac-turing industries in colonial times, includingsmall arms and cannon. Ship building was alsoan important industry carried out along theTaunton River. Vessels of up to 150 tons werebuilt here and floated down river during thespring floods. Today Bridgewater is a thrivingtown with a State College, a commuter rail


The convention will open at First Church ofChrist Scientist in Providence with a recitalby Peter Krasinski on Hutchings Opus 1637of 1912.

line, a state prison and a broad river. It also hasseveral historic churches and several fine pipeorgans, which we will visit today.

Stephen Young will play the 1913 two-manual Hook & Hastings tracker organ (Opus2325) in the Bridgewater United MethodistChurch. This congregation was organized in1874 and worshiped in a former Swedenborgianchurch building until the present structure wasdonated to the parish by the Gammons familyin 1914.

Just south of Bridgewater is the small townof North Middleboro. Originally called Titicutby the Wampanoag, this area where theTaunton River makes a hairpin turn was afavorite summer place for many tribes. In 1643sixteen inhabitants petitioned the colony’sGovernor to establish their own parish. It tookalmost six years to obtain this permission.Meanwhile, in 1647 three Indians gave thirty-eight and three quarters acres of land for “ameeting house to stand on, for a Burying Placeand for a training field.” The present NorthCongregational Church facing Titicut Green isa “stick-and-shingle” Victorian period piecewith cypress wood interior, built in 1893 afterlightning destroyed the previous building.Cheryl Drewes will play an unaltered two-manual 1895 Hutchings organ (Opus 339).The instrument was restored by Roche OrganCompany in 1994, retaining the cone-tunedpipes and the hand-pumped bellows. In the

Titicut Cemetery next to the church there is amonument honoring the three Indian donors,one of whom is buried there.

Following the repeat of these two programswe will all convene at the First Parish Churchin Bridgewater. First Parish was gathered in1716 in what was originally known as theSouth Parish of Bridgewater. This was amongthe earliest of the Puritan churches to adoptUnitarian teachings. The present 1845 Greekrevival building was designed by Old Colonyarchitect Solomon Eaton of Mattapoisett (nearNew Bedford). A recent restoration of the wallbehind the pulpit uncovered the originaltrompe l’oeil decorations beneath a layer ofpaint. Marian Ruhl Metson will play the two-manual 1852 E. & G. G. Hook organ (Opus132), which was restored by the AndoverOrgan Company in 1979 under the directionof Robert C. Newton.

Following this recital we will walk acrossthe street to the campus of Bridgewater StateCollege for the illustrated lecture The OldColony: Its Origins, Organs and Oddities by LisaCompton, a past director of the Old ColonyHistorical Society and a former organbuilder.Following Ms. Compton’s lecture we willenjoy a buffet lunch, followed by the OHSannual meeting in the same hall. This will giveall in attendance the opportunity to attend theannual meeting, leaving Sunday morning freefor convention attendees to attend church

services or relax as they choose. After theannual meeting we will again divide into twogroups and board buses for repeated afternoonprograms at two small churches in the lovelytown of North Easton.

The town of Easton was originally a part ofthe Taunton North Purchase, which wasacquired by a land company for £100 in 1668.The first English settlers did not arrive until1694. They were attracted by the three streamscapable of providing fish, water power, bogiron and irrigation for farming. In 1725 theEast End of the town of Norton was incorpo-rated as the town of Easton. Captain JohnAmes, a blacksmith in nearby West Bridgewater,was the first to make metal blade shovels inAmerica. Prior to this, only wood shovels hadbeen produced here. The key for this processwas the molding of malleable iron with a triphammer powered by water power. Ames’sBridgewater forges also supplied cannons andmuskets for George Washington’s army in theRevolutionary War.

In 1803 Ames’s son Oliver recognized thepotential of the Queset River, which dropped120 feet in less than a mile. He bought thewater rights in the town of North Easton andset up a foundry for the manufacture of shovels.During the War of 1812 the Ames Shovel Worksenjoyed a monopoly on the sale of shovels as aresult of the Embargo Act. The construction ofthe Erie Canal created additional demand for



The 1913 Hook & Hastings organ in Bridgewater United Methodist Church will be played by Stephen Young.


Cheryl Drewes will be heard on the 1895 Hutchings in North Congregational Church, Titicut.



the company’s products. By the time of the1849 California Gold Rush, for which thecompany supplied shovels, the Ames ShovelCompany was a million-dollar operation. Afteran 1852 fire the North Easton foundry complexwas replaced with stone buildings, which werepowered by steam engines. The Civil Warbrought large government contracts to supplythe Union Army.

Success with shovels provided the means toinvest, and financial success with railroads. In1862 President Abraham Lincoln persuadedOakes Ames to throw his financial weight intothe new venture for a transcontinental railroad.His brother Oliver became president of theUnion Pacific Railroad. Further success in thatrealm allowed key family members to investin an array of businesses, including westernmining and Boston real estate. By 1875 theAmes Shovel Company in Easton producedthree fifths of the world’s shovels. The companywon a first prize for their display of silver-platedshovels at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Thecompany remained in Easton until the 1950s,when it moved operations to Parkersburgh,West Virginia, where it continues today.

Today, North Easton Village is the secondlargest National Historic District in the United

States (after Williamsburg, Virginia). Thanksto the Ames family, this small town has thecountry’s largest collection of buildings—fivein all—designed by architect Henry HobsonRichardson. Richardson’s first commission herewas in 1877 for the Ames Memorial Library,which was completed in 1881. Richardson’ssecond commission was for Ames MemorialTown Hall in 1879, completed in 1883.Frederick Law Olmstead landscaped both thelibrary and the hall grounds, and introduced alarge “Cairn” of boulders, which residentsnamed the “Rockery” and which is now underrestoration. The Gate Lodge for the Ames Estatewas commissioned in 1880 and completed in1883. This is considered Richardson’s mostoutrageous work. Richardson’s biographer,Henry Russelll Hitchcock, called it a “glacialmoraine roofed over and made habitable.” TheRailroad Station for the Old Colony Railroad,a gift of Frederick Lothrop Ames, was commis-sioned in 1881 and completed in 1883. It nowhouses the Easton Historical Society. TheGardener’s Cottage of the Ames estate wascommissioned in 1884 and completed in thatsame year. It was designed to be an inexpensivehome for a working-class family, as opposed tothe usual Richardson dwellings for the very

rich. Olmstead also landscaped the estate onwhich the Gate Lodge and Gardener’s Cottageare located.

Unity Church (Unitarian-Universalist) is ahandsome Gothic revival structure built in1875 of stone quarried nearby. A gift to theUnitarian Society of North Easton from OliverAmes, it was designed by his nephew thearchitect John Ames Mitchel. The restoredOliver Ames Italianate mansion and gardens arenext door to the church. The village cemeterybehind the church was laid out by FrederickLaw Olmstead.

The church interior contains severalremarkable works of religious art. When theinterior was redesigned in 1895 by architectHenry Vaughan, an ornate pulpit screen (amemorial to Frederick Lothrup Ames) wascarved by the famous sculptor JohnKirchmayer. Born in Bavaria and educated atthe University of Munich, Kirchmayer wascalled “one of the most remarkable sculptors ofwood” in a 1930 Boston Globe article. Otherexamples of Kirchmayer’s work are found inthe Unitarian Church of Fairhaven (which wewill visit on the third day of this convention),the chapel of St. Paul’s School in Concord, NewHampshire, All Saints Church in Ashmont,

Marian Ruhl Metson will play E. & G.G. Hook Opus 132 of 1852 in the First Parish Church, Bridgewater.


Richard Hill will demonstrate the instrument over which he has presided for nearly three decades: the 1874 E. & G.G. Hook andHastings/1933 Hook and Hastings in the Unity Church, North Easton. Above: transept and transept window. Below: “Angel of Help” WestWindow and wood carvings by John Kirchmayer.

Massachusetts, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NewYork City and the Cadet Chapel of the UnitedStates Military Academy at West Point. Thechurch’s two transept windows are by JohnLaFarge. The jewel-toned 1886 west window(Angel of Help) is considered Lafarge’s master-piece. The 1901 east window, (Wisdom) isLaFarge’s largest. Both windows have recentlybeen restored to brilliant splendor. The rearrose window over the south door is by CharlesConnick of Boston.

Richard Hill, convention co-chairman andUnity Church organist for the past twenty-eight years, will play a program on the organ.This instrument was originally installed in1874 by E. & G.G. Hook and Hastings (Opus786) with a black walnut case and stenciledfaçade pipes. With the installation of theKirchmayer screen, all but the attached consolewas hidden. In 1933 Hook & Hastings rebuiltand enlarged the instrument with an electro-pneumatic pulldown action and a detachedconsole as their Opus 2605. In 1954, whenDaniel Pinkham was organist, Aeolian Skinneradded a Mixture to the Great. The organ wasreleathered and rewired in 1985 by the Lahaisebrothers of Boston.

Holy Trinity Lutheran church was organ-ized in 1890 to serve the Swedish Lutheranswho worked at the Ames Shovel Company.The present wooden A-frame building,designed by Boston architect Arland Dirlam,was dedicated in 1959. Within this simple,modern structure sits a three-manual 1859 E.& G.G. Hook organ (Opus 254), which KevinBirch will play. This organ was built for theChurch of the Unity (Unitarian) in Boston. Itoriginally had no pipe façade, and the instru-ment was installed behind a screen. E. & G.G.Hook & Hastings extended the Swell compassfrom tenor c to low C around 1870. In1896/1898 the organ was moved to the newbuilding of the German congregation of ZionEvangelical Lutheran Church (later renamedFirst Lutheran Church) in Boston, presumablyby George Hutchings. An oak case was fitted tothe organ with a façade of speaking as well asdummy pipes. In 1957 First Lutheran movedto a new building (now housing the Richards-Fowkes organ visited during the OHS 2000Boston Convention) that was too small toaccommodate the Hook organ. When the old



E. & G.G. Hook Opus 254 of 1859 in Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, North Easton, will beplayed by Kevin Birch.

building was sold, the Hook organ wasremoved and placed in storage until a suitablenew home could be found in a Lutheranchurch in the Boston area. In 1982 the organwas purchased by the North Easton church andrestored by the Andover Organ Company,under the direction of Robert C. Newton.

Following these two afternoon programs,convention goers will have ample time to walkaround the town and visit some of theRichardson buildings before boarding busesback to the hotel. We will have a catered dinnerat the hotel, then board the buses for theevening’s recital in Taunton. Bruce Stevens, aperennial favorite among convention-goers,will play a large two-manual 1894 Hook &Hastings organ (Opus 1595) in the reverberantacoustics of St. Jacques Roman CatholicChurch, a brick Romanesque-style buildingcompleted in 1953. This organ was originallybuilt for the church of St. Mathieu in the north

end of nearby Fall River. When St. Mathieu,one of six French parishes in that city, wasdemolished in 1989, the organ was acquired bythe pastor of St. Jacques to replace a failingelectronic. The late organ builder Paul Delisleof Fall River, who grew up in St. Mathieu,meticulously restored the organ and moved itto its new home. Though neither the largestnor the oldest of three essentially intact Hooktrackers in Taunton, this organ undeniablyenjoys the best acoustics. It will, at the close ofour first full day, give a hint of the treasuresthat await us in Taunton on Saturday.

Thursday 14 JulyWe will divide into two groups as we board

the buses to hear instruments in the Fall Riverarea. Our first destination will be the town ofSwansea on the western shore of the mouth ofthe Taunton River. Swansea was settled in 1663

and named after the minister’s home village inWales. It was just across the bay from MountHope, the home of Massasoit, Chief of theWampanoag tribe. King Philip’s War, an ill-fatedIndian attempt to drive out the English, beganhere in1675 with the massacre of seven settlers.

The First Christian Congregational Churchof Swansea first held services in 1680. Thepresent building, completed in 1833, houses aone-manual 1868 E. & G.G. Hook (Opus460). This organ was originally located in thebalcony, but in 1873 it was moved to its pres-ent location, an addition on the north side ofthe building. Tom Guthrie will play this organ,which was restored by Andover in 1963.

Christ Church (Episcopal) in SwanseaVillage was incorporated in 1846. The presentgranite English Gothic building, designed byRalph Adams Cram, was dedicated in 1900. Itwas a gift of the widow of a Fall River industri-alist and legislator who was a parish member.


Hook and Hastings Opus 1595 of 1894 enjoys a generous acoustical environment in St. Jacques Roman Catholic Church, Taunton, where itwill be heard in recital by Bruce Stevens.

Organist Robert Barney will play the 1900two-manual Hutchings organ (Opus 515),which is housed behind a corbelled case withelegant carvings.

After hearing these two organs we willtravel a short distance across the Taunton Riverto the city of Fall River. It was settled byBenjamin Church, who built a saw mill in1690, following King Philip’s War. The areawas called Quequechan (“falling water”) by theWampanoag because of the small river thatcascaded (dropping 150 feet in a half mile) intothe Taunton River. The mill potential of thisstream was recognized early on, as was thenavigable harbor of the river. In 1811 a cottonmill was built and six more followed by 1835.Fall River grew from a population of 300 in 1811to 4,000 in the 1830s. In the decade followingthe Civil War, Fall River became the largestproducer of cloth in the world, and one of thewealthiest cities in Massachusetts. Its popula-tion soared to 45,000, and the town featuredcotton factories, a large nail factory, a calicoprinting company, a bleachery, seven banksholding 3.5 million dollars of capital, four sav-ings institutions with 9.5 million dollars ofaggregate deposits, train and steamboat serviceto major east coast cities, and a new bridge

across the Taunton River. By World War I, FallRiver had a population of 130,000 and over100 cotton mills, with more than 30,000employees. In the 1920s, the textile industrymoved south, and Fall River headed into a swift

decline, accelerated by a devastating downtownfire and the Great Depression. In 1930 the citywas forced to declare bankruptcy, and its oper-ations were taken over by the state from 1931to 1941, during which time the city sufferedadditional damage when it was struck by a tidalwave during the hurricane of 1938. The lack ofaffluence since that time has spared manychurch organs from the scourge of moderniza-tion or replacement.

We will all convene at St. Joseph’s RomanCatholic Church, a Patrick C. Keeley buildingdedicated in 1885, and one of several largebrick churches built in the nineteenth centuryto serve Catholic mill workers in the north endof the city. In the rear gallery is a large two-manual instrument built in 1883 by WelcomeK. Adams of Providence. Of the instrumentsthat Adams built for churches in Rhode Islandand neighboring parts of Massachusetts, only ahandful remain. This is the largest survivingwork of this builder, and it has been unusedfor many years following interior damage bypainters. A team of organ builders and con-vention committee members will make emer-gency repairs to this important instrument,which will be heard in a program played byKim Hess.

Next we will proceed to the south end ofthe city for a catered lunch in the parish hall ofGood Shepherd Roman Catholic Church.After lunch, we will again divide into twogroups for two repeated programs. One groupwill go upstairs into the church, an 1889granite building designed by Patrick C. Keeley.Housed behind a Gothic-style case is a HenryErben organ built in 1863 for the RomanCatholic Cathedral of Sts. Peter & Paul inProvidence. When the Providence cathedral,whose diocese then included Fall River,installed Hilbourne Roosevelt’s Opus 237 in1889, the Erben organ was acquired by the FallRiver church. The instrument was electrified in1954 by Fall River organ builder RaymondWhalon, retaining all of the Erben flue ranks.Kevin Kissinger will play this organ, whosemild tone’’ is enhanced by the live acoustics ofthe church.

The second group will travel a short distanceby bus to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, a small,1898 granite Gothic-style building. MarkSteinbach will play an unaltered, two-manual



The elegant one-manual E. & G.G. Hook organ from 1868 in the First Christian Church(Congregational) of Swansea will be played by Tom Guthrie.

Ralph Adams Cram designed Christ Churchin Swansea Village, where Robert Barney willdemonstrate Hutchings Opus 515 of 1900.


The 1863 Henry Erben organ in Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church in Fall River will be played by Kevin Kissinger.

1898 Möller tracker, which was partially fundedby Andrew Carnegie.

After these two programs have been repeatedwe will travel to Rock Street, at the edge ofthe city’s fashionable Highlands area, wheremill owners built mansions overlooking thewaterfront. At the First CongregationalChurch Lorenz Maycher will play a 1911three-manual E.M. Skinner organ (Opus 191).

This instrument, housed in a rare (for Skinner)free-standing case in the rear gallery, wasrestored in 2002 by the Emery Brothers ofDoylestown, Pennsylvania. The church wasbuilt in 1911 of pink granite from Connecticutat a cost of nearly one million dollars, and wasa gift of Sarah Submit Brayton, the spinsterdaughter of one of Fall River’s wealthy millowners. Designed by Shepley, Rutan, and

Coolidge, successors to Henry Richardson, itwas modeled on the Gothic Tudor style of anEnglish country church. Tiffany Studios ofNew York decorated the interior, including thelighting fixtures. Three LaFarge windows overthe chancel will, weather permitting, glow inthe afternoon light.

Following Mr. Maycher’s recital we willwalk a short distance down Rock Street to acatered dinner at the Abbey Grill, formerly theCentral Congregational Church. This magnif-icent 1875 Ruskinian Gothic complex wasdesigned by Hartwell and Swazey of Boston. Itwas at this church that Lizzie Borden worshipedin her later years, following her acquittal in thenineteenth century’s most sensational murdertrial. With the merger of several churches in the1980s, this landmark building was acquired bya community group in hopes of using it as aperforming arts center. In 1997 it was pur-chased by master chef George Karousos, a FallRiver native and owner of several prestigiousrestaurants, to establish the InternationalInstitute of Culinary Arts. The upper floor ofthe former parish hall now houses the insti-tute’s classrooms and extensive culinary library.The ground floor is the practicum restaurantThe Abbey Grill. The former sanctuary—nowrenamed the Great Hall—is used for weddingreceptions and other catered functions. In afront corner of the room, behind the elaborate-ly carved case of E. & G.G. Hook’s Opus 806of 1875, is a large 1916 three-manual electro-pneumatic Hook & Hastings (Opus 2388),which, although rebuilt and enlarged, incorpo-rates many ranks from the earlier organ. Thisorgan, though unplayable, is largely intact.Diners will have ample time to admire the elab-orate case and console shell before departingfor the evening program.

After dinner the buses will take us to St.Anne’s Roman Catholic Church, the largestin Fall River, for an evening concert of choraland organ works performed by the SineNomine Chamber Choir under the direction ofGlenn Guittari and accompanied by organistAndrew Galuska. During the 1860s textile millowners had to replace workers who went tofight in the Civil War. They sent agents northinto Quebec to recruit French Canadian farm-ers and their large extended families to work inthe mills. When the war was over, many of



Andrew Carnegie helped to finance the 1898 Möller tracker organ in St. Luke’s Episcopal Churchin Fall River, which will be played by Mark Steinbach.

The newly restored 1911 E.M. Skinner organ in Fall River’s First Congregational Church will be played by Lorenz Maycher.


these French-speaking Catholics remained,joined by others who heard of the opportunityto earn money in New England. The numberof French Canadians in Fall River went from5,000 in 1873 to 13,900 in 1887, 20,000 in1890, 25,000 in 1893, 35,000 in 1895. By1902 there were 40,000 French in this city of100,000 inhabitants.

St. Anne’s Church was founded in1869,and was the first of six parishes established overa thirty-year period to serve Fall River’s grow-ing French Canadian population. Constructionof the present Romanesque building (designedby Canadian architect Napoléon Bourassa)began in 1892. The granite basement churchwas opened in 1895 as a shrine dedicated to St.Anne, a popular saint among French-speaking

people. (The statue of St. Anne was the objectof a special veneration, and drew many pilgrimsseeking healing or divine favors. The upperchurch was enriched with a new statue of itspatron saint, modeled after the famous statueof St. Anne de Beaupré in Canada. However,the devotion of pilgrims has remained centeredon the original statue in the basement shrine.)

The upper church of blue Vermont marblewas completed in 1906 and seats 1,600. Its twosteeples tower 155 feet skyward, fronting the273-foot nave. More recent additions are the1959–61 stained glass windows by E. Rault ofRennes, France, and the 1964 three-manualCasavant organ, designed by Lawrence Phelps.This instrument was a favorite of the late JeanLanglais, who played the dedicatory recital. In

subsequent years while on recital tours in theNortheast he made several unpublicized visitsto this church to improvise during the Sundaymasses. The extraordinary acoustics of thisspace, its wide choir loft, and this organ havemade St. Anne’s a favorite venue for organ andchoral concerts for forty years.

FRIDAY 15 JULYWe will board the buses for a journey

through the wetlands of southeasternMassachusetts and into the heart of cranberrycountry. Cranberries are a native wetland cropthat thrives in the plentiful swamps and bogsof the Old Colony area. Native Americansused the cranberry for a variety of purposes,



Thursday evening will close with a concert of choral and organ music featuring the splendid acoustics and 1964 Casavant organ of St. Anne’sRoman Catholic Church, Fall River.

including as food, poultices and dyes.Commercial cultivation began here in 1816when Henry Hall, a Cape Cod farmer andRevolutionary War veteran, observed thatspreading a layer of sand over the bogs helpedthe berries to grow. At the end of the nine-teenth century many of the abandoned OldColony bogs that had been leveled and minedfor bog iron in the late 1700s were convertedto cranberry production. Today, of theapproximately 1,000 cranberry growers inNorth America, 500 are in Massachusetts.Southeastern Massachusetts grows over thirtypercent of the nation’s cranberry crop, withPlymouth County the leading producer.

Our first stop is the town of Middleboro,originally known as Nemasket, which means“place of fish” in the Wampanoag language.Each April over a million herring swim up theNemasket River to Assawompsett Pond inLakeville to spawn, the largest run of alewivesin New England. The river provided water andabundant food for the early inhabitants, andfurnished water power for the grist mills andforges of the early English settlers.Incorporated in 1669 as Middleberry, the townwas destroyed in 1675 during King Philip’sWar. The name was later changed toMiddleboro. We will hear organs in the town’stwo Congregational churches

The First Congregational Church “On the

Green” was organized in 1694 as The Churchof Christ in Middleborough by “nine sons ofthe Pilgrim fathers,” who transferred from theparent church at Plymouth. Eight were mem-bers of the Twenty-Six Men’s Purchase, the firstpurchase of land from the Indians, and all wereliving in the area at the time of the town’sincorporation in 1669. The first minister wasSamuel Fuller, son of Dr. Samuel Fuller whohad come to Plymouth on the Mayflower. The

present simple, white frame building was con-structed in 1828. The two-manual tracker,which will be played by SharonRose Pfeiffer,was built by S.S. Hamill of East Cambridgeand installed in 1887. F. Robert Roche ofTaunton renovated the organ with some tonalchanges in 1962.

Central Congregational Church wasfounded in 1847 by families from the FirstCongregational Church who had built their

The 1925 Hook and Hastings organ in a case from a previous organ by George Stevens inMiddleboro’s Central Congregational Church.

The 1887 S.S. Hamill organ in Middleboro’s First Congregational Church will be played by SharonRose Pfeiffer.


homes “in this section of town and were find-ing it difficult to attend worship at a churchsome three miles distant.” The present buildingwas completed in 1848 and enlarged in 1892by the addition of church parlors and an organchamber at the rear. Following a 1923 fire thatdestroyed the parlor and damaged the churchinterior, the present two-manual, six-rankinstrument was built by Hook and Hastings(Opus 2503) and installed in 1925 behind thecase of the previous George Stevens trackerorgan. David Chalmers will play this organ.

After the program at Central Congre-gational, we will divide into two groups and eata box lunch on the buses as we head fartherinto cranberry country to hear two charminginstruments in the small towns of Rochesterand Marion, near Buzzards Bay.

Rochester was named after Rochester,England, because both towns shared a commonbounty of oysters. In 1697 the “MinistryLands” were laid out at Rochester Center, andin October 1703 the First Church was organ-ized. The present white wooden meetinghouse,built in 1837, is the fourth to stand on thechurch land at Rochester Center. Built bySolomon Eaton of Mattapoisett in a vernacularGothic style, it cost $5,000. The Ladies Sewing

Circle bought the “Sweet-toned bell with thesound of ‘A’” in 1850, and in 1866 the one-manual E. & G.G. Hook (Opus 387) wasinstalled in the rear gallery. Like most Hookorgans of the 1860s, this instrument, whichwill be played by Peter Crisafulli, has a remark-able sound that belies its small size.

Marion was settled in 1678. It was origi-nally a part of Rochester, known as Sippican,

after the Indian tribe that lived there. Its mainindustries were oysters, boiling sea water forsalt, and ship building. It was once home toeighty-seven captains of whaling vessels.When it became a separate town in 1852 theinhabitants chose the name Marion in honorof General Francis Marion, a RevolutionaryWar hero from South Carolina. The MarionUnited Methodist Church was founded in



First Congregational Church in Rochester houses a bold E. & G.G. Hook organ from 1866, which will be played by Peter Crisafulli.

Judith Conrad will play Marion United Methodist Church’s one-manual organ, which isbelieved to have been built around 1866 by Giles Beach.


A striking façade from 1845 adorns an organ of uncertain origins in the First Congregational Church of Fairhaven. James Jordan willdemonstrate the organ.

1865. The present church was built in 1897,replacing the first church, which had beenbuilt in 1866. Judith Conrad will play a ca.1860 one-manual organ, which is now in itsthird home. This instrument is presumed tohave been built by Giles Beach for anEpiscopal church in Cambridge, New York. Itwas moved in the nineteenth century to theMarion Universalist Church, and lateracquired by the Methodist congregation whenthe Universalist church closed.

We will next go to Fairhaven, a lovely sea-side town on the shore of Buzzards Bay, directlyacross the harbor from the famed whaling portof New Bedford. Fairhaven was settled in 1652by John Cooke, one of the Mayflower Pilgrims.The territory of Dartmouth, which includedthe present towns of Fairhaven, New Bedford,Dartmouth, and Acushnet, was purchasedfrom Massasoit and his son, Wamsutta. Thefirst naval battle of the American Revolution

was fought by Fairhaven militiamen aboardthe sloop Success in May of 1775. The townwithstood an attack by the British in 1778 andgrew in prosperity during the whaling days inthe 1800s. Originally part of New Bedford, itbroke away as a result of its inhabitants’ dis-agreement with the pacifist sentiments ofQuaker New Bedford during the War of 1812.In January of 1841, at the age of 21, HermanMelville sailed from Fairhaven harbor to theSouth Seas aboard the whaling ship Acushnet,beginning an eighteen-month adventure thatwould ultimately inspire his landmark novelMoby Dick.

In Fairhaven we will stay in two groups forshort repeated programs at two churches in thetown center. The First Congregational Churchof Fairhaven is an 1845 brick Gothic-stylebuilding whose plaster interior walls and ceil-ing vault are painted in tromp l’oeil to imitatestone. In its rear gallery, behind the case façade

of the church’s 1845 organ is a two-manualinstrument of uncertain origin, which wasinstalled in 1979 by the Roche Organ Company.This organ, removed from the basement churchof Immaculate Conception Roman CatholicChurch in Lowell, Massachusetts, was said tobe a Hamill made from old parts around 1870.It was then rebuilt, or at least parts of it reused,by Cole and Woodberry, whose labels werepasted on the insides of the case panels.Originally a tracker, it was electrified by W.W.Laws. For its new home in Fairhaven, Rocheprovided a new structural frame and mechani-cal action, and replaced the grillwork of thethree case sections with pipes. The attached,projecting console with non-overhanging man-uals, square-shank stop knobs in vertical jambsand fold-around doors and top was patternedafter the 1854 E. & G.G. Hook organ in theUnitarian church in Jamaica Plain. James Jordanwill play this instrument.



The skyline of Fairhaven, Massachusetts.

Fairhaven’s most remarkable features are itsmagnificent European-style public buildings,designed by architect Charles Brigham of theBoston firm of Sturgis and Brigham, whichalso designed Boston’s Church of the Adventand the Christian Science Mother Church.Built between 1885 and 1906, these publicbuildings were gifts to Fairhaven by StandardOil Company millionaire Henry HuttlestonRogers, a native of the town.

The Memorial Unitarian Church, given byRogers in 1904 in memory of his mother, isconsidered by many to be Brigham’s master-piece. It is a miniature English PerpendicularGothic cathedral with elaborately carvedstonework, marble mosaic floors and exquisiteinterior wood carvings by John Kirchmeyer. Allof its stained glass windows are by Tiffany. Thechurch complex also includes a parish hall inEnglish Renaissance style, and an educationcenter (formerly the parsonage) in Tudor half-timbered style.

The church’s original organ was a three-manual Hutchings-Votey. In 1971 F. RobertRoche installed a new three-manual, five-division instrument incorporating twelve of

the Hutchings ranks behind the elaboratelycarved and stenciled matching case façades.Dwight Thomas will play this instrument,which retains the Hutchings console shell, withits original amphitheater-style stop terraces.

Between these two programs conventioneerswill have the opportunity to explore some ofthe town’s architectural treasures. The church,parish hall, town hall and library, which are allwithin one block of each other in the towncenter, will be open during our visit. Townhistorian Christopher Richard will give a briefpresentation in the town hall auditorium aboutthese buildings and about the unique friend-ship between Henry Huttleston Rogers andSamuel Clemens (Mark Twain). Clemens deliv-ered the dedication speech at the opening ofthe Fairhaven Town Hall in 1894, and also gavea humorous speech at the laying of the corner-stone of Memorial Unitarian Church.

Following these programs we will ride a fewminutes north to a restaurant in nearbyAcushnet for dinner. As we leave town we willpass the magnificent 1906 Renaissance-styleFairhaven High School, the final buildinggiven by Henry Huttleston Rogers.

For dinner we will enjoy a deliciousPortuguese buffet. The first Portuguese came tothis area from the Azores, a nine-island archi-pelago in the middle of the Atlantic, wherethey were recruited in the early nineteenthcentury as crew members by passing whalingships out of New Bedford. Many more camelater to work in the textile mills and the fishingindustry. This immigration continued well intothe twentieth century. Today, the Portugueseare the largest ethnic group in southeasternMassachusetts, with major concentrations inthe coastal cities of New Bedford and Fall River.

After dinner we will return to Brockton forthe only program in our convention head-quarters. Ray Cornils, municipal organist forthe city of Portland, Maine, will play a 1923Hook & Hastings theater organ at St. Casimir’s(Lithuanian) Catholic Church. This two-manual, twenty-seven rank organ (Opus 2461)was originally installed in Gordon’s OlympiaTheater in Brockton. With the end of the silentmovie era the organ languished, eventuallysuffering extensive water damage. In 1954 itwas purchased by the pastor of St. Casimir’s forthe new church. The Frazee Organ Company of


Charles Brigham’s English Gothic architecture for Memorial Unitarian Church, Fairhaven, is enlivened by Tiffany windows and JohnKirchmeyer wood carvings. Dwight Thomas will play the Robert Roche/Hutchings-Votey organ.

Natick, Massachusetts, rebuilt the windchests,supplied a new console and installed it in tworear gallery chambers. In 1992 the PellandOrgan Company of Derry, New Hampshire,rebuilt the organ with a solid state switchingsystem, retaining all of the original unificationand duplexing. Among the unusual (for Hook& Hastings) features on this organ is a IV

Strings stop, a four-rank chorus of 8-footstrings. Following this fun concert, we willreturn to the hotel.

SATURDAY 16 JULYSaturday will be spent in Taunton, the geo-

graphical hub of the Old Colony. Taunton,

called Cohannet (“place of swift waters”) by theWampanoag, was settled in 1637 by Puritansfrom the Devon and Somerset regions ofEngland. In 1638 they purchased an eight-square-mile tract from Massasoit, which theynamed Taunton after the shire town ofSomerset. Two additional purchases—the“North Purchase” in 1668, and the “SouthPurchase” in 1672—nearly doubled the size ofthe settlement. Originally Taunton includedthe present-day towns of Raynham, Dighton,Mansfield and Norton, as well as portions ofEaston, Berkley and Lakeville.

The presence of bog iron deposits and anavigable river (the Taunton River) led toTaunton’s rise as a center of metal-smithingindustries. In the nineteenth century Tauntonfoundries produced stoves (the GlenwoodRange), locomotives (the Mason Locomotive)and textile mill machinery. These nineteenth-century high-tech industries generated greataffluence in the community, which is reflectedin some of the beautiful churches and organsthat we will visit. Between 1847 and 1857 thefamous architect Richard Upjohn designed fivepublic buildings and six private residences forTaunton. Five of these—two churches, a school,and two houses—have survived virtually intact.

Taunton is known as the Silver Citybecause of the forty silver companies that havebeen located there over its history. In 1824Isaac Babbitt, a Taunton metal smith, created anew metal alloy which he called Britanniametal. From it he fashioned wares of a higherquality than had ever been possible before. Healso developed Babbit metal, a white metalalloy that was commonly used for machinebearings before the development of ball bear-ings. Babbitt hired a group of talented crafts-men, among whom were Henry G. Reed andCharles E. Barton. When Babbitt encounteredfinancial difficulties these two offered to takecontrol and began manufacturing wares underthe name of Reed & Barton. The company’sfirst products were of heavy silverplate. Later,after the rich silver discoveries in the Americanwest of the 1870s and 1880s, the companymade products of sterling silver. During thissame time period Reed & Barton became oneof the first companies to introduce electroplat-ing, and went on to become pioneers in thistechnology. The company continues today as


This and preceeding page: The 1874 E. & G.G. Hook and Hastings in Taunton’s St. John’sEpiscopal Church will be played by Lois Regestein.

one of America’s oldest silver companies. In1994 it was selected to produce the VictoryMedals in gold, silver and bronze for the 1996Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Our first stop will be a return to theWhittenton neighborhood in the north end ofTaunton, just around the corner from Wed-nesday evening’s recital venue. St. John’sEpiscopal Church was founded in 1866 to servethe growing number of English “whitesmiths”

who worked in the nearby Reed & Bartonfactory. The church, a charming woodenCarpenter’s Gothic building designed byHartwell & Swasey of Boston, was consecratedin 1873. It houses E. & G.G.Hook & HastingsOpus 764, a two-manual, instrument from1874 with an attractive ash Eastlake-style caseand stenciled facade pipes. Lois Regestein willplay this instrument, which has a rare ratchet-style swell mechanism.

We will then divide into two groups to visittwo charming instruments in small churches.The town of Berkley was established from thesoutheastern part of Taunton in 1735. It wasnamed in honor of Bishop George Berkeley,the first Anglican bishop to reside in anAmerican colony.

The Berkley Congregational Church, thefourth meetinghouse on its site, houses a raretreasure: the oldest surviving church organ by


Berkley Congregational Church boasts the oldest surviving church organ by E. & G.G. Hook (1834), which will be played by Barbara Owen.


E. & G.G. Hook. Barbara Owen, one of thefounding members of OHS, will play thisorgan. It was Ms. Owen who discovered thisorgan in the 1950s during the time she servedas the organist of a church in nearby Fall River.Although its original date and home areunknown, this organ is indisputably from theearly to mid 1830s. Originally only the pipes onthe center treble section of the windchest wereenclosed in a swell box. This and other stylisticevidence (including the nameplate wording E.& G.G. Hook/Makers/Boston) date the organ tothe first decade of the Hooks’ work. By 1858 itwas in the Union Baptist Church in Boston. In1864 W.B.D. Simmons added the Pedal SubBass and installed the organ in theCongregational Church of Amherst, NewHampshire. In 1875 the Hook organ, withextensive alterations, was installed in the newlybuilt Methodist Church in Berkley, presumablyby George Ryder. The keys and pipes of the four

lowest manual notes (GGG, AAA, AAA#, BBB)were removed, as were the two combinationpedals to make room for a twenty-five notepedalboard. The treble Hautboy was replacedby a string, and the swell box was enlarged toenclose all of the manual pipes. The façade wasremodeled in Victorian style, the central pipetower and flats were removed, new zinc facadepipes were provided, and the mahogany veneeredcase was painted to imitate black walnut.

In 1904, following a fire that destroyed theCongregational Church’s 1848 meetinghouse,the Methodist building and its contents werepurchased and moved by the BerkleyCongregational Church to the present locationon the site of the burned building. In the late1950s the Williams Organ Service ofSwampscott, Massachusetts, added chimes,removed the original bellows and feeders,installed a modern swell pedal, and fitted thepipes with tuning slides. Soon afterwards the

case was painted white. It was in this conditionthat Barbara Owen found the organ.

In 1983 the Roche Organ Companyrestored the organ for the 250th anniversary ofthe church and town, which was celebrated in1985. The mahogany veneered casework wasstripped of its layers of paint and refinished.Replacement case sections, ornaments andpipes were patterned after the similarly styledHook organs in Northfield, Massachusetts(1842), and Northfield, Vermont (c. 1840).The wind system was restored, including hand-pumping system, although the instrument alsoreceived a new electric blower. The hitch-downSwell pedal was restored. The manual compasswas returned to GGG. This instrument con-tains 318 of the original 414 Hook pipes; onlythe Open Diapason Bass and the trebleHautboy were completely missing. The othermissing pipes were due to the shortening of thebass compass.


The Roche Organ Company’s Opus 19 (1976) in Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church, Taunton, uses parts from earlier organs by Ryderand Estey, and will be demonstrated by Phillip Jones.

Taunton was also home to the RocheOrgan Company from 1967 to 2001, and wewill visit a sampling of their work. Our Lady ofthe Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church,which was built in 1909 to serve the PolishCatholics of the city, houses one of Roche’searly works with mechanical action, a two-manual, ten-stop organ (Opus 19). This 1976instrument incorporates the keyboards, chassisand manual windchests of a c. 1887 Ryderinstrument (Opus 147) built for the Univer-salist church in Brockton. The lower case,

console shell, pedalboard and Pedal Bourdonpipes are from the church’s previous 1926tubular-pneumatic Estey (Opus 2486.) A newfive-section case façade, inspired by ThomasAppleton’s designs, replaced the previous Esteypipe fence above the impost. Phillip Jones willplay this instrument.

After these two programs have beenrepeated we will reconvene for lunch at HolyRosary Parish Center. The buses will then takeus to historic First Parish Church in the centerof Taunton. This congregation was gathered in1637 when Taunton was settled and was thefifth church to be established in the PlymouthColony. The present 1829 building is thefourth meeting house on the Church Green.The sanctuary interior, with black walnut pewsand woodwork, is virtually unchanged since anenlargement and redecoration in 1869. Amongthe large stained glass windows is a Tiffany“Resurrection” window, which has recentlybeen restored.

It was in this church that Ernest M.Skinner first encountered a pipe organ. Hisfather, Washington Martin Skinner, was thetenor in the church’s quartet while the familylived in Taunton from 1873 to 1883. The organwhich young Ernest heard was E. & G.G.Hook’s Opus 384, built in 1864. In 1949Skinner returned to Taunton in his eighty-thirdyear to electrify the organ and make manytonal changes. Further changes by Williams in1960 left little of the original organ. The pres-ent instrument, Roche Opus 28 of 1986, is atwo-manual, thirty-two stop tracker incorpo-rating the case and surviving ranks of theHook. This organ was the first in New Englandto employ dual registration system—themechanical stop action incorporates electricsolenoids which are activated by a solid-statecombination action. Rosalind Mohnson willplay this instrument.

After Ms. Mohnson’s recital we will have achoice of activities available. Those who wishmay visit The Old Colony Historical Society (aRichard Upjohn building) across the street tosee exhibits that highlight Taunton’s industrialhistory. The museum’s silver room displays thework of Taunton silversmiths from the lateseventeenth century to the present. Just downthe street from First Parish is the house wherethe Skinner family lived. We cannot enter the



It was in the First Parish Church of Taunton that E.M. Skinner first heard an organ. Thepresent instrument by Roche uses the case and some of the pipework of the original 1864 E.& G.G. Hook organ, and will be played by Rosalind Mohnson.

The silver collection at the Old ColonyHistorical Society.

house, which is a private residence, but it canbe viewed from the outside. We have alsoarranged a trip to the Reed & Barton factorystore. Another option will be a guided walkingtour of the Church Green neighborhood,which includes two houses designed by architectRichard Upjohn. The convention registrationform will have more detailed informationabout these options.

Our next recital will also be in downtownTaunton at the Pilgrim CongregationalChurch. The church is a short walk from FirstParish. (Buses will be available for those whorequire them.) Pilgrim Church was founded in1821 as the Trinitarian Congregational Societywhen First Parish voted to embrace Uni-tarianism. The present granite Romanesquestructure, dedicated in 1852, was designed byRichard Upjohn. The church houses Johnson& Sons’ Opus 745, a large two-manualinstrument from 1890 and the only survivingJohnson installation in eastern Massachusetts.This organ, which was electrified in 1956, wasrestored and re-trackerized by Roche in 1996.Will Headlee will play a program thatincludes music by Oliver Shaw, the church’sfirst organist.

After Mr. Headlee’s recital there will beadditional free time for the options mentionedabove. Those attendees who wish can proceed afew blocks up Broadway on foot (or on the

bus) to attend the 4:00 PM mass at St. Mary’sRoman Catholic Church. This parish, foundedin 1830, is the oldest Catholic parish in theTaunton area. The present Gothic-style granitebuilding, completed in 1868, was designed byPatrick C. Keeley. Following the mass JosephO’Donnell will play a program on the 1895three-manual Hook & Hastings organ (Opus

1674). This organ, the largest surviving work ofthe Hook firm in southeastern Massachusetts,is in need of repair and used only occasionally.Our visit has been deliberately timed to followthe mass, so that our presence will be noticedby the parishioners and, one hopes, sparkinterest in preserving and refurbishing thisimportant and magnificent instrument.


Designed by Richard Upjohn in 1852, Pilgrim Congregational Church in Taunton is home to Johnson & Sons’ Opus 745 of 1890, which willbe played by Will Headlee.

Joseph O’Donnell will demonstrate Hook & Hastings Opus 1674 of 1895 following mass atSt. Mary’s Church in Taunton.

We will then board the buses for the shortride to the West Congregational Church on theoutskirts of the city for an authentic South-eastern Massachusetts clambake. The clams,sausage and vegetables will be cooked in thesame manner that the Wampanoag Indians

taught the Pilgrims: baked in seaweed placedover fire-heated rocks. The West Church’s sum-mer clambakes have been an annual traditionsince 1925 and are always sold out months inadvance. The church has graciously agreed tohold a special bake for our convention. For

those who do not eat clams, alternative proteinwill be available.

The West Congregational Church wasfounded when all but three members of theFirst Parish Church withdrew after it hired aminister with Unitarian leanings. The presentwood-frame structure, built in 1792, was orig-inally erected one half mile away. It was dis-mantled and reconstructed on its present site in1824. It is the oldest surviving church buildingin Taunton. The three-rank 1933 Hook &Hastings unit organ is one of the last instru-ments produced by the firm before its dissolu-tion. Because of the limited seating capacity ofthe church and a tight schedule, there will be aseries of informal mini-demonstrations duringthe clambake in place of a recital.

We will then return to the center ofTaunton, and St. Thomas Episcopal Churchfor the evening’s recital by Thomas Murray.This congregation, founded in 1728, has his-toric links with the Foundling Hospital inLondon, where Handel held annual fundrais-ing performances of his Messiah. The presentstone Gothic building designed by RichardUpjohn was consecrated in 1859. The previousorgan, built by E. & G.G. Hook and Hastingsin 1866 (Opus 386) was electrified and fittedwith a moveable electric console by Hope-Jonesin 1893. Following that organ’s destruction byfire in 1898, the present 1899 three-manualJardine & Sons organ (Opus 1257) with tubu-lar pneumatic action was given by the church’sorganist, Walter Clemson (who was married tothe daughter of locomotive builder WilliamMason). This instrument, one of the last majorworks of the Jardine firm, was designed andvoiced by Carlton Michell. In 1930 the actionwas electrified by Clark & Fenton of Nyack,New York. In 1980 the organ was conserva-tively rebuilt with some tonal additions byRoche Organ Company; the Great and Swelldivisions were repositioned for better tonalprojection. Though the room acoustics are dry,this organ has a warm and commanding pres-ence. Particularly notable features characteristicof Michell include the bold Swell chorus reeds,the keen Swell strings, the warm Unda Maris inthe Choir and the voluptuous Claribel Flute onthe Great. This organ, the largest in Taunton,will provide an ideal tonal palette for Mr.Murray’s artistry.



Jardine and Sons’ Opus 1257 of 1899 in St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Taunton, will beplayed in recital by Thomas Murray.

SUNDAY 17 JULYSunday morning will be free of scheduled

activities, allowing those who wish to attendchurch services. We will provide buses to takepeople to morning services at several localchurches, which will have special music. Thisfree church shuttle service will be availableonly for those who request it when they registerfor the convention. The convention registra-tion form will have complete details aboutservices and times.

Following a buffet lunch at the hotel wewill board buses for First Parish Church inDuxbury. Duxbury, the second town settled inthe Old Colony, was established in 1632 by agroup led by elder William Brewster. John Aldenwas among the first members. The presentchurch, built in 1840 by Duxbury ship-builders, is the congregation’s fourth meeting-house. The church became Unitarian in theearly nineteenth century. The room retainsmost of its elegant original furnishings, includ-ing the large mahogany pulpit and communiontable, clock, chandelier, memorial tablets andthe organ. The town and its meetinghouse have

been featured in an issue of Antiques Magazine.Frances Conover Fitch will play the 1853W.B.D. Simmons organ, which was rebuilt byAndover Organ Company in 1967.

We will then board the buses for a shortride to Plymouth, where our first stop will be abrief visit to the National Monument to theForefathers. This colossal, eighty-one-foot tallmonument erected in 1889 and designed byBoston architect Hammat Billings (who pro-vided the initial case design for the BostonMusic Hall’s famous Walcker organ, now inMethuen) is the largest granite monument inthe nation. The thirty-six-foot-tall central fig-ure of Faith, symbolizing the virtue thatinspired the Pilgrims’ journey to the NewWorld, sits atop a forty-five-foot-tall pedestalengraved with the names of the 102 Mayflowerpassengers. Surrounding the pedestal are fourfifteen-foot-high seated figures, representing theprinciples upon which the Pilgrims foundedtheir colony (Morality, Education, Law, andLiberty). Below the seated figures four marblereliefs depict significant episodes in PilgrimHistory: the Departure from Holland, theSigning of the Mayflower Compact, the Landingat Plymouth and the Treaty with Massasoit.

Next, the buses will take us to PlymouthPlantation, a living history museum that recre-ates the Plymouth village as it was in 1627.Costumed role players portray specific historicinhabitants. Adjacent to the 1627 pilgrim vil-lage is Hobbamock’s Homesite, where present-day native-Americans explain and demonstratetraditional crafts of the Wampanoag, the nativeinhabitants of the region. After ample time toexplore the plantation and interact with theinterpreters, we will walk to the plantation’sdining pavilion for an authentic 1627 harvestdinner. Pilgrim re-enactors will be on hand totell us about the food and instruct us in theways of seventeenth-century table manners.

After dinner we will board buses to theChurch of the Pilgrimage (UCC) in the historiccenter of Plymouth for a hymn festival. This1840 building is located on Burial Hill, nearthe site of the Pilgrims’ first meeting house. Astime permits before the program, conventioneersmay walk up to the Burial Ground to see thetombs of the early settlers, or proceed a fewblocks down to the harbor to view the fabledPlymouth Rock.

Our hymn festival will be led by the Rev.Dr. Peter Gomes, Plummer Professor of


Rev. Dr. Peter Gomes and Brian Jones willlead conventioneers in a hymn sing at theChurch of the Pilgrimage in Plymouth.

Frances Conover Fitch will play the 1853 W.B.D. Simmons organ in the First ParishChurch, Duxbury.

Christian Morals at Harvard University andMinister of Harvard’s Memorial Church. Dr.Gomes, a Plymouth resident and past presidentof the Pilgrim Society, is a nationally renownedpreacher and author of several best-sellingbooks. He also has a local reputation for thespirited Sunday evening hymn-sings, whichhe leads each August at the South Pond Chapelin Plymouth.

The organist for our hymn festival will beBrian Jones, Emeritus Director of Music and

Organist at Trinity Church in Boston. Raisedin Duxbury where his ancestors have livedsince 1632, Brian assumed his first position asa church organist at the age of fourteen and wasappointed organist at the Church of thePilgrimage during his junior year of highschool. Brian and Peter began a lifelong friend-ship in these years, and they share many inter-esting memories of music in Old Colonychurches in the 1950s and 1960s. The Churchof the Pilgrimage was home to an 1853 Hookand an early twentieth-century century Cole,both of which were replaced by an electronic in

1958. Brian returns tonight to play the three-manual fifty-five-rank 1972 Roche organ,which he helped to relocate to Plymouth fromit previous home in the Baptist Temple in FallRiver in 1990.

Following this program of hymns andorgan pieces celebrating the Pilgrims with com-mentary by Messrs. Gomes and Jones, the buseswill return us to our hotel, where all can reflectupon the historical significance of the day’svenues or obtain a libation in the exhibit area.

MONDAY 18 JULYFor our final convention day we will

explore the riches of the old whaling port ofNew Bedford, the largest city in the OldColony region. The area was first visited in1602 by the English navigator BartholomewGosnold, who traded with the Indians at themouth of the Acushnet River on Buzzard’s Bay(so named for the flocks of cormorants, whichGosnold mistook for buzzards). It was original-ly part of the town of Dartmouth, which wasfirst occupied by settlers from Plymouth in1644 and purchased from Massasoit in 1652.

The section was first named Bedford Village,but when it was chartered in 1787 this waschanged to New Bedford, as another town hadby then laid claim to the name Bedford.

The first ecclesiastical body organized inDartmouth was established by the Society ofFriends (Quakers) in 1699. From that pointon the Quakers would play an important rolein the town’s development. Because of theiranti-slavery principles New Bedford became awell-known station on the Underground

Railroad; Frederick Douglas came to NewBedford after his escape from slavery. Duringhis three years there (1838–41) he beganpreaching against slavery at this church, andhe became active in Abolitionist circles.Following an impassioned speech at a conven-tion of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Societyin Nantucket Douglas rose to national promi-nence as an Abolitionist speaker and author.

Around 1780 William Rotch, Jr., aNantucket Quaker and third-generation whal-ing merchant and banker, bought a tract ofland on the west side of the Acushnet River and



New Bedford’s oldest organ is found in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, where Joyce Painter Rice will play the 1852 George Stevens.


The 1912 Casavant organ in St. Anthony of Padua Church, New Bedford, will be played by Timothy Smith.

constructed wharves and warehouses to estab-lish a whaling fishery. By 1804 there were fifty-nine whaling vessels registered from NewBedford. In the days of whaling prosperity NewBedford sent out more whale ships than allother American ports combined. In 1857,when the New Bedford’s population was about22,000, whaling reached its peak, with 329vessels engaged, representing an investment oftwenty million dollars, and a yearly catch of tenmillion dollars. This singleness of purposemade New Bedford the richest city per capitain the world. In the second half of the nine-teenth century the whaling industry began tosuffer as a result of over-hunting. Following thediscovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania in1859, kerosene began to replace whale oil as alamp fuel.

As the whaling industry declined, textilemills and commercial fishing assumed a greaterrole in the city’s economy. The first cotton millbegan production in 1848. By 1905 NewBedford ranked second among United Statescities in the manufacture of cotton goods, pro-ducing five percent of the country’s total. In1909 the city had some fifty mills. Around

1920, at the height of the industry, there werea total of seventy mills, employing over 41,000workers. The city’s population was then over121,000. Textile production allowed NewBedford to remain one of the richest cities inthe country until the 1930s. A six-month laborstrike in 1928 caused many textile mills tomove to the southern states, where labor wascheaper and not unionized. The GreatDepression closed many others, and those thatremained struggled on until 1985, when the

last (Berkshire-Hathaway) ceased textile opera-tions. Today the commercial fishing industrycontinues as an economic engine, generatingapproximately 800 million dollars annually tothe local economy. New Bedford continues torank as the nation’s top commercial fishingport in terms of landed catch.

We will begin the day by dividing into twogroups for repeated programs in two smallchurches in the north end of the city.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church was started



A rare example of H.H. Roosevelt’s early work survives in the organ originally built in 1877for Trinity Church in Boston and relocated to New Bedford’s St. James Roman CatholicChurch in 1926. Christopher Marks will play.

The sole surviving organ of CharlesChadwick (Opus 1 of 1901) in the NorthBaptist Church of New Bedford will beplayed by Timothy Drewes.

in 1905 as a mission for English operatives whoworked in the north-end textile mills. The pres-ent brick church, designed by architect CharlesC. Coveney, was completed in 1923.

In the rear gallery stands a two-manual, G-compass, 1852 George Stevens organ, originallybuilt in for the First Universalist Church inDover, New Hampshire. When that churchclosed in the 1970s the organ was placed instorage until 1977, when it was recommendedto St. Andrew’s by Barbara Owen. A new reargallery, forward of the tower recess, was builtto accommodate the organ and choir. Theorgan was moved, restored and installed in St.Andrew’s by a group of parishioners. The RocheOrgan Company retabled the windchests,releathered the bellows and supervised thechurch volunteers.

At some time in the late nineteenth centurythe three center sections of the upper case wereremoved and the pipes were lengthened andstenciled to update the organ’s appearance. Acareful study of the surviving case partsrevealed this organ’s original appearance, whichwas identical to the 1847 Stevens organ in theFirst Parish Church in Shirley Center, Massa-chusetts. Following a visit to that instrumentby members of the church’s organ committee itwas decided to restore the case to its originalappearance. Matthew Bellocchio of the Rochefirm provided drawings for the missing casepieces and ornaments, patterned after theShirley Center organ. These were built by NewBedford Vocational High School carpentrystudents under the supervision of parishionerFrank Almeida, head of the carpentry depart-ment. The façade pipes were restored to theiroriginal lengths and positions. The restoredorgan was used for the first time on Easter of1979. Joyce Painter Rice will play this organ,which is now the oldest in New Bedford.

North Baptist Church is a white, wood-frame structure built in 1873. At the front ofthe sanctuary is a 1901 two-manual organ(Opus 1) of Charles Chadwick, brother of thecomposer George Whitefield Chadwick. In1981 the Roche Organ Company restored theorgan with some minor tonal changes.Timothy Drewes will play this instrument, theonly surviving work of this builder.

Following the repeat of these two programswe will reunite at one of the convention’s most

spectacular venues, St. Anthony of PaduaRoman Catholic Church. This church is thelargest in Southeastern Massachusetts, and wasdedicated in 1912 for what was then a largepopulation of French Canadian Catholics.Built from Springfield red stone, it is 241 feetlong. The 250-foot steeple is one of the tallestin New England. The interior decorationsinclude brilliant stained glass windows, elabo-rate Rococo-style plaster decorations, life-sizedStations of the Cross and 5,500 light bulbs

integrated into the architectural decorations.Behind the main altar is a seventy-five-foot-high diorama depicting the Vision of St.Anthony, with statues carved by JosephCastagnoli, a master sculptor from Italy. Aswith many urban-center ethnic parishes, thischurch saw its numbers dwindle as the city’spopulation and economy changed. Never-theless, the present pastor and parishionershave done their utmost to maintain and restorethis enormous building.


The Hutchings, Plaistead & Co. organ of 1874 in New Bedford’s St. Anne’s Roman CatholicChurch will be played by Rene Waligora.

In the rear of the church, high up in a secondbalcony, is a four-manual, sixty-rank, Casavantorgan. This monumental organ is equipped witha sostenuto device for the Solo, Récit and Positif,as well as a “tuner’s helper” inside the organ. Thefourth manual also controls a five-rank Choeurdivision in the chancel (now unplayable), with itsown one-manual console.

Unfortunately, time has taken its toll onthis instrument, and its rate of deteriorationhas exceeded the church’s ability to fundrepairs. The Solo has been unplayable for yearsfollowing the failure of its massive reservoir.The Swell has many dead notes, and at presentthe combination action does not work.Nevertheless, a project of releathering has beenongoing by friends of the church and organ

repairman Normand Lemieux and his sonDaniel. We are confident that this instrument,which will be played by Timothy Smith, willsound forth in splendor during our visit to thisglorious space.

Next the buses will take us to the south endof the city for a box lunch in the parish hall ofSt. James Roman Catholic Church. This parishwas started in 1888 to serve the growing num-ber of Catholics working in the nearby textilemills. The present granite Gothic structure,begun in 1890, was dedicated in 1907.Following lunch we will go upstairs into thechurch for a recital by Christopher Marks onan organ that we anticipate will be theCinderella story of this convention.

In 1877 Hilbourne Roosevelt of New Yorkbuilt a forty-seven stop, three-manual organ(Opus 29) for H.H. Richardson’s new buildingfor Trinity Church in Boston. This organ wascontrolled by pneumatic action, save for a VoxHumana on an electric chest in the ceiling. In1926, when E.M. Skinner installed a neworgan (Opus 536) in Trinity, the Roosevelt wasacquired by St. James and electrified by W.W.Laws. For its new home Laws provided a four-manual Austin-style console, and added anEcho division of six ranks, located in the southtriforium at the front of the nave. Laws fittedelectric primaries to the Roosevelt slider chestsand slide motors, and added treble extensionchests to extend the manual compass to sixty-one notes.

In the 1970s a clogged drain in the towercaused severe water damage to the Great wind-chests. The pipes, pallets and pulldown pneu-matics were removed to allow the chests to dryout, but never reinstalled. The organ graduallylapsed into silence as a shrinking base of parish-ioners precluded spending money on its repair.Last year four parishes in the south end weremerged into one, with St. James the survivingchurch. At the time of this writing, a group ofconvention committee members and volun-teers have, with the approval of the new pastor,begun to implement repairs to make some ofthe organ playable for our visit. This importantorgan, a rare survival from Roosevelt’s earlycareer, may yet have a new lease on life. This isour hope.

We will next visit another organ in thesame neighborhood where hope is not as

bright. St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church, a1938 brick Georgian revival building, was oneof the three churches closed in this recentparish merger. There Rene Waligora will play atwo-manual c. 1874 Hutchings, Plaisted &Co. instrument now in its third home. Thisorgan was originally built for Sacred HeartRoman Catholic Church in East Boston. In1894 it was moved by Hook & Hastings to theFrench church of St. Hyacinth in NewBedford. When that church closed in 1981,Raymond Whalen moved the organ to St.Anne’s. Though the future of the St. Anne’sbuilding and its organ are uncertain, it ishoped that this instrument will soon find afourth home in New Bedford

Next the buses will take us to the NewBedford Whaling National Historical Park, inthe heart of the city’s downtown historic dis-trict. The park, created by Congress in 1996,encompasses thirty-four acres spread overthirteen city blocks adjacent to the water-front, including a visitor center (in an 1853Greek revival bank building), the NewBedford Whaling Museum (the largest muse-um of its kind in the world), the Seamen’sBethel (immortalized as the Whaleman’sChapel by Herman Melville in his classicnovel Moby Dick), the schooner Ernestina (a110-year-old wooden sailing ship), and theRotch-Jones-Duff House and GardenMuseum (a Greek revival whaling merchant’smansion with period gardens). We have nego-tiated a discount on the admission to theWhaling Museum for convention attendees.Conventioneers will have ample time toexplore these attractions, or to browse in someof the nearby shops and galleries.

Our last afternoon program will be a fewblocks up from the harbor at the FirstUnitarian Church, at the edge of the CountyStreet Historic District. Erected in 1838, thisgranite Norman Gothic edifice was designed byAlexander Jackson Davis and Russell Warren.At the front of the sanctuary is the mosaic ThePilgrimage of Life, the largest ever created byTiffany Studios. Frederick Jodry will play the1966 two-manual Flentrop organ in the reargallery. This organ is the fifth in a series ofprestigeous instruments which the church haspossessed since its founding [see separate articleon p. 41].



First Unitarian Church in New Bedfordhouses a 1966 Dirk Flentrop organ, whichwill be played by Frederick Jodry.

Following this program we will walk (orride) a few blocks south into the County StreetHistoric District for our final conventiondinner. County Street contains great whaling-era mansions by architects Alexander JacksonDavis, Robert Mills, Richard Upjohn (whostarted his career here) and Russell Warren.Herman Melville wrote in Moby Dick,“Nowhere in America will you find morepatrician-like houses, parks and gardens moreopulent than in New Bedford. Whence camethey? Yes, all these brave houses and flowerygardens came from the Atlantic, Pacific andIndian Oceans. One and all, they were har-pooned and dragged up hither from the bottomof the sea.” Dinner will be in the elegant quar-ters of the Wamsutta Club. This social clubfounded in 1866 is housed in a mansion builtin 1821 by James Arnold, a wealthy NewBedford whaling merchant and ship owner.Arnold’s love of horticulture and a $100,000bequest to Harvard University resulted in thefamed Arnold Arboretum in Boston.

After our dinner we will walk a few blocksnorth on County Street (buses will be available)to Centre-Trinity United Methodist Church forour closing convention recital by Peter Sykes(whose father grew up in this church). This brickGothic building designed by Russell Warren wasdedicated in 1859. Its sanctuary features a ceil-ing with unsupported pendant vaults. In the reargallery, behind an unusual curvilinear Gothiccase, is a two-manual 1859 E. & G.G. Hookorgan (Opus 244). This instrument is the onlysurviving pre–Civil War organ original to NewBedford. At the time of its installation it was thelargest in the city. In 1903 Hook & Hastings“made improvements” to the organ. In 1907John Brennan of North Reading extended thekey action, fitted a projecting console to the caseand added a tubular-pneumatic Bourdon to thePedal. In 1965 Charles Fisk undertook majorrenovations and tonal revisions, which includedreplacement of several original Hook ranks.During a restoration of the sanctuary interior in2000 Bruce Gardzina (a church member, organ-builder and OHS 2005 Convention committeemember) and Randolph Gilberti of New Yorkrenovated the instrument and replaced many ofthe missing Hook ranks with pipework of com-parable vintage. Following this final conventionrecital the buses will take us back to the hotel,

The convention will close with a recital by Peter Sykes on the 1859 E. & G.G. Hook organin the Centre-Trinity United Methodist Church, New Bedford.


where all can relax and prepare for re-entry intomodern culture.

The conclusion of our convention willusher in the beginning of the OHS’s fiftiethanniversary year. Anniversaries invite us toreflect upon our past and contemplate how farwe have come. Looking back upon the growthof the Plymouth Colony, Governor WilliamBradford, in his journal Of Plymouth Plantation,wrote the following, which might equally welldescribe the development of the OHS:

Thus, out of small beginningsgreater things have been produced byHis hand that made all things of noth-ing and gives being to all things thatare; and as one small candle may light athousand, so the light here kindledhath shone unto many, yea in same sortto our whole nation.1

The OHS 2005 Convention Committeehopes that you will come to The Old Colonythis July. We invite you to experience our his-tory, explore our heritage, share our hope, hearour Hooks (fourteen of them, plus twenty-four other organs, too!) and enjoy our hospi-tality. In return, we promise you a fabulousfiftieth convention!

Matthew M. Bellocchio, Co-chairman of theOHS 2005 Convention Committee, has been anOHS member since 1969. During his twenty-fiveyears at Roche Organ Company in Taunton,Massachusetts, he restored and maintained anumber of the organs to be visited at this year’sconvention. Following a six-year sabbatical withbuilders in Portland, Oregon, and Canandaigua,New York, he returned in 2003 to Massachusetts,

where he is a designer and a Project Team Leaderat Andover Organ Company in Lawrence.

Mr. Bellocchio is a founding member of theAmerican Institute of Organbuilders. He earnedthe AIO Fellow Certificate in 1979 and hasserved on its Board of Directors. He presentlyserves on the institute’s Membership Committeeand Convention Overview Committee and chairsthe AIO Education Committee.

Mr. Bellocchio received a B.A. degree, cumlaude, from St. Francis College in Brooklyn andstudied architecture at Pratt Institute. He hasmade study tours of historic architecture andorgans in America, England, Europe andMexico. His lecture Time, Taste and the OrganCase: The Influence of Architectural Styles hasbeen presented at national conventions of theAGO, AIO and OHS, and has been published inThe Tracker.


For more information call 1-800-548-9469 or visit our web site at www.kao.kendal.org

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1. William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, edited by Samuel Eliot Morison (New York: Modern Library, 1952), 236.

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