I recently had the fascinating experience of climbing all the way up into the belfry of the Greenfield Meetinghouse with George Rainier, who literally keeps things ticking for our town.

Rainier has been winding the clock in the Greenfield Meetinghouse for the past 20 years. He got involved after serving on the Planning Board and meeting the late Jerry Adams, who taught him how to maintain the clock by winding, oiling machinery, setting the time correctly and checking to see the machinery is running smoothly.

Rainier now winds the clock in the Meetinghouse belfry twice every week, winter and summer, rain or shine. Jarvis Adams, Jerry’s son, also helps out when needed.

Accessing the belfry is a little hairy, and the entire attic of the Meetinghouse is off-limits to the public. The town installed new steps and railings in the lowest part of the attic years ago, but the higher up you go, the trickier it is to access.

I followed Rainier up dark, twisting stairs and steep ladders until we reached the tiny room housing the clockworks. There’s a beautiful view of Crotched Mountain out the back window. I commented that it must be really cold way up in the belfry in winter, and Rainier agreed it is, but that it’s even more challenging in the summer, when it’s hot.

Rainier showed me how to wind the clock with an enormous handle and let me try a few cranks. I could only manage two – if someone had to invent a lower-back torture device, that would be it – while Rainier, a silver-haired septuagenarian, cheerfully did 87 cranks on one side and 12 on the other. He also oils the machine a few times a month. 

“The trickiest thing is daylight savings time,” Rainier said. “It’s easy in the spring, when I can just push the gears ahead, but in the fall, I can’t push them backwards. So I just come down here at one or two in the morning, whenever it’s officially supposed to happen, and stop the pendulum until time catches up.” 

After inspecting the clock machinery, we took a different ladder up to the belfry. According to “Greenfield, New Hampshire: The Story of a Town,” by Doris Hopkins, the bell was purchased by funds raised “by subscription” in 1825. There is no record of how the early townsfolk raised the enormous, 903-lb bell nearly five stories up to the belfry; but Rainier suspects they used a winch.

The bell was recast twice, once by the Revere Foundry in 1827, and again by the Henry N. Hooper Co. in 1848. 

“A few years ago, I was contacted by the Doughboy Society,” Rainier said. “They were trying to contact every town bell-ringer in the country to ask them to ring the bells for Armistice Day.”

Rainier, who spent nearly a year in Vietnam, now rings the bell 21 times at 11 a.m. every Nov. 11 to commemorate the end of World War I. 

One of Rainier’s favorite memories is an essay contest organized by former GES teacher Carele Mayer. Greenfield children were asked to write essays about “What I Love About Greenfield,” and the writer of the winning essay got to ring the Meetinghouse Bell. Rainier warned the winning writer, a very small girl, that whatever happened, she was not to let go of the rope when she rang the bell. 

“And of course, the bell rope lifted her right up in the air!” he said with a chuckle. “The look on her face, it was wonderful. She was absolutely delighted!” 

If you look closely at the beautiful old clock face, it, like everything else in the Meetinghouse, is in desperate need of a new coat of paint and a polish. But thanks to George Rainier, the Meetinghouse clock keeps perfect time every day of the year. 

To donate to the Greenfield Meetinghouse repair project, please go to greenfieldmeetinghouse.org.

Email me at jesstimm17@gmail.com with ideas for the Greenfield Beat.

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