Weathervane Wednesday ~ Another Ancestral Church and Its Weathervane

I post a series of weather vane photographs every Wednesday.  This started with images of weathervanes from the Londonderry, New Hampshire area, but now I've found interesting weather vanes all across New England and across the globe.  Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting.  Often my readers tip me off to some very unique or unusual weathervanes, too!  If you know a great weather vane near you, let me know if you'd like to have it featured on this blog.

Today's weather vane was photographed in Massachusetts

Do you know the location of weathervane post #276?  Scroll down to find the answer.

This weathervane was photographed above the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church on the common in the center of Chelmsford, Massachusetts.  This church was founded as the Church of Christ in Chelmsford in 1655 by my 

9th great grandfather, the Reverend John Fiske.

This weathervane is a gilded arrow above gilded cardinal points.  This church and the steeple were built in 1792, and the weathervane is very typical of this time period in New England.  The church served as the town hall (meetinghouse) until 1880.  In 1955 lightning struck the steeple and destroyed it, but a new one was built and the original weathervane was placed on top.  In 1836 the original Puritan congregation became Unitarian. In 1844 the church joined the Universalist Society.

You can read more about Rev. John Fiske at my "Surname Saturday" post at this link:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/07/surname-saturday-fiske-of-salem-wenham.html   and you can see his tombstone (from behind the church in the Forefather's burial ground) at yesterday's "Tombstone Tuesday" post at this link:   http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/tombstone-tuesday-rev-john-fiske.html

The First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church website:  http://www.uuchelmsford.org/

Click here to see the entire Weathervane Wednesday series of posts!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ Another Ancestral Church and Its Weathervane", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 7, 2016  (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/weathervane-wednesday-another-ancestral.html:  accessed [access date]).