Our Steeple 

The weathervane on South Congregational Church was reset on July 27, 2025 and is now at home high atop our steeple!

Thousands of people drive by the church every day on Washington Street or on Pond Street. Its mere presence, coupled with the magnificent steeple lifts our eyes to heaven!

It is believed that this weathervane is from the original church building built in 1831. The original building burned in 1860 and was rebuilt during the civil war and is our church building today! A weathervane was on the original building (it appears in an early artwork of the building), and it is surmised it was salvaged after the fire because cast iron would not have been damaged by the flames. It was last touched in 1977 when the spire was replaced.

The weathervane was removed in 2014. It was restored in 2015 by Follett Company of Holbrook who did the copper work and gold leaf work on the top piece (the vane) and Blackburn Conservation of Middleboro who did the iron work on base structure. It has been stored in the church balcony since restoration was completed.

The weather conditions during the re-installation were beautiful, sunny, in the 80’s, the wind was light from the west (but was stronger at 135 feet up where the worker's shirt fluttered as he clung to the steeple point to complete the installation).

A handful of parishioners (who most assuredly will all have stiff necks from being mesmerized and  looking up), watched for three hours while the workers readied the vane for lifting, a crane from Daniel Cavelier Crane Service of Acton, MA was set up, and very brave steeple jacks worked outside and inside the steeple to secure the vane and base. The steeple jacks included Jake (working inside the steeple and ground support) and Sean (working on the ladders and ropes to the very tip of the steeple) from Yankee Steeplejacks of Harvard, MA. The skill of the team was amazing to watch. It was precision work with the delicate control of the crane working high overhead while seated in the crane in the parking lot and obviously very rehearsed team of steeple jack workers.

Weathervanes have been used as early as the first century B.C. in ancient Greece. The Ancient Romans also used weathervanes. In the ninth century A.D., the Pope decreed that the cock, or rooster, be used as a weathervane on church domes or steeples, perhaps as a symbol of Christianity, referring to Jesus' prophecy that Peter will deny him three times before the rooster crows the morning after the Last Supper. Roosters were commonly used as weathervanes on churches in both Europe and America for hundreds of years.

There are so very few weathervanes that exist in Braintree.  South Congregational church is very proud to have a fully restored one of very high historical value high atop our steeple.

Weathervane was removed in 2014 and restored in 2015.