The Steeple Restoration Project

Late April 2024 update: Good news! The steeple restoration is almost finished. Some painting and detailed carpentry remains but we are very close, and it should be finished this month or in early May when scaffolding will come down. Our clock face has new gold leafing, and it has been repaired: the spire has been repaired, the weathervane has fresh gilding, the bells are ringing on the hour and soon the chimes will be ringing again. We are planning a town wide celebration on Memorial Day Weekend so stay tuned for details.

Here’s a video from mid-November of 2023 of Pastor Erick speaking with Valley Restoration’s Paul Bastiaance while the steeple was still on the ground about the progress at that point and plans for continuing the work.

The committee is so grateful for our community’s support and wonderful, generous donations to our fundraising efforts including several challenge grants and gifts. We do want to thank all who have contributed so much to this effort. We are lucky to be part of our community that cares so much for our church and its place in Norfolk.

Thank you from the Raise The Steeple Committee –

Hope Childs, Marie Civco, Rowland Denny, Betsy Gill, Jan Graham-Jones, Kate Johnson, Erick Olsen 

Donations to help fund a maintenance endowment fund are welcome and may be made below.
If you would like to pledge financial support to this project,
please visit the Steeple Pledge page. Thank you!

Steeple History

In 1835, John Warner Barber rode into Norfolk on the Greenwoods Turnpike to sketch a view of the village for his book Connecticut Historical Collections. Barber described Norfolk as “a village uncommonly neat and beautiful.” As in many towns, the steepled church was an iconic part of the New England landscape.  The artist Thomas Cole described that landscape in his Essay on American Scenery: “from yonder dark mass of foliage the village spire beams like a star.”

Designed in 1813 by David Hoadley, a master builder of outstanding skill, the church soon garnered state-wide recognition. Hoadley’s elegant steeple rises from a square clock tower in two octagonal stages capped by balustrades and a tall spire. The graceful modulation of scale reflects a refined sense of proportion, an important and meaningful component of design when it was built. On its elevated site, the new church with its distinctive steeple was a commanding presence in Norfolk, a beacon of light, and placed the town on the architectural map.

Norfolk Historical Society: Watch the steeple being removed and placed on the ground.