WILLIAMSBURG — Two weeks after a resident asked that the Haydenville Congregational Church bell to fall silent overnight — a request that garnered significant attention in the community and on social media — the Select Board heard an overwhelming response Tuesday: Let the bell keep ringing.
The Select Board took no action on High Street resident Mike Ambs’ request to silence the church bell between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Instead, board members listened as about 15 residents urged the town to let the bell ring around the clock while expressing sympathy for the family that raised the complaint after moving to town earlier this year.
Ambs, who lives about 1,000 feet from the 1851 church on Main Street, told the board earlier this month that the hourly gongs made it difficult for him and his four children to sleep. He was not at Tuesday’s meeting and could not be reached for comment.
After the Gazette reported on Ambs’ request, the story generated 120 Facebook comments and more than 60 likes.
The bell is under the town’s jurisdiction, and the Select Board has the authority to decide whether to silence it. Chair William Sayre said Tuesday that the board might take no further action, which would mean the bell would keep ringing. The board discussed sending Ambs a letter.
Resident after resident described the bells as a defining part of Williamsburg. Instead of being a nuisance at night, many said the tolling of the bell was as peaceful as counting sheep.
Michael Bullock of South Main Street said the tolling is one of the few experiences the entire community shares.
“When I wake up and can’t fall back to sleep, if it strikes 4 o’clock, I know where I am and there’s still hope to get a couple more hours sleep,” he said. “And that’s a little facetious, if not too personal, but the marking of the time is what we have in common, and time on a screen doesn’t matter to us anymore.”
Bullock also drew a few chuckles in the room by suggesting residents start a GoFundMe campaign to buy the family white noise machines.
“I know my grandchildren require white noise machines to sleep,” he said. “I’ll be glad to start the GoFundMe.”
Tanya Nutt of South Main Street said she moved to Williamsburg in 2009 while coping with acute post-traumatic stress disorder. Although the bell initially kept her awake, she said they soon became a source of comfort.
“I could hear them in my garden, I can hear them anywhere on the property,” she said. “It keeps me in check, and it also keeps me connected to the community because when I hear the bells, I know everyone else in my neighborhood and around the community are doing the same thing.”
Gabi Immerman of High Street said her third-floor bedroom sits nearly level with the church bell, yet she has come to view its ringing as part of the town’s identity.
“I too think about my community when I’m hearing that sound,” said the Smith College professor. “The bell has been ringing for over 100 years, it’s part of the fabric of our community.”
Immerman said local young people have climbed the church tower each week for more than a decade to wind the clock by hand. Her son did the job from ages 11 to 16 before passing the tradition on to other families.
“What that means is that a parent and child are going up into the tower of the clock once a week,” she said. “It takes about a half an hour. It takes 200 cranks to wind the clock. That’s a memory my son and I love.”
She encouraged Ambs and his family to give the bell time.
“I would encourage the person who has their concerns to give it a little time and come to understand what a gift it is to live in a community that shares something in this way,” she said.
Eric Weber, a member of the town’s Trust Fund Commission, which maintains the clock, said he was heartened by the outpouring of support for preserving the bell. Residents also praised the beauty of the clock’s mechanisms, likening them to an enormous Swiss watch.
