WILLIAMSBURG — After a monthlong saga, the Select Board voted unanimously Tuesday to keep the bell at Haydenville Congregational Church ringing around the clock, rejecting a resident’s request to silence the chiming between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.
“All those in favor of letting the bell continue to toll 24/7 say aye,” Chair William Sayre asked before the vote.
Immediately, more than a dozen people gathered in the Town Offices answered with their own chorus of “aye.”
Sayre gently rebuked the audience, noting that the vote belonged to the Select Board, drawing laughs from those in attendance. The three-member board then made it official, voting 3-0 to let the bell keep ringing through the night.
Mike Ambs, who moved into a home on High Street about 1,000 feet from the 1851 church on Main Street, told the board in July that the hourly gongs made it difficult for him and his four children to sleep. He was not in attendance as the vote was taken.
Since the request was made, other residents living near the church have voiced support for keeping the bell ringing, calling it a cherished historical tradition, a source of community unity and even a helpful reminder of the time when they become absorbed in projects such as gardening.
The bell is under the town’s jurisdiction, and the Select Board has the authority to decide whether to silence it.
Ahead of the vote, a handful of residents spoke during public comment in support of the overnight tolling.
Leslie Schneider, of 131 Main St., said she has lived near the church for 27 years and sympathizes with the Ambs family, but the bell quickly become part of everyday life. When she first moved to town, the nighttime chiming took some getting used to and occasionally woke her around 2 a.m. — but only for about a month.
“I’d like to comment that you do get used to it, and I do feel for these people that moved in and are light sleepers and all. I get that,” she said. “There’s history in that clock and I would hate to see it muted in any way, shape or form.”
Jim Weigang, of 9 South Main St., about 440 feet from the clock tower, said roughly 20 homes are closer to the church than the Ambses’ home. Citing 2024 census data, he said about 47 people live in the immediate vicinity of the bell. He said their lack of complaints shows that the bell is not interfering in their day-to-day lives.
Like Schneider, he said it just takes some time getting used to it.
“It doesn’t interfere with sleeping once you get used to it, and I certainly objected to the bell ringing when they first started a full year after I moved into my apartment,” he said. “I have grown fond of the bell ever since.”
After the vote, Weigang was exiting town offices and spoke with another resident who both said, “A victory!”
Several residents said they were upset by insensitive comments on social media toward the family, some of whom told Ambs, a Pennsylvania native, to go back to where he came from. Others told him to not get involved.
Select Board member Paul Wetzel said his initial reaction to the complaint had been that muting the bell overnight seemed reasonable.
“My first initial reaction when this person came was, ‘Well, yeah, OK, I can mute the bell.’ But everyone else seems to like it,” he said, adding that he was surprised by how many residents said they had grown accustomed to the bell after moving to town.
“It’s good to talk about these things once in awhile,” Wetzel added. “I’m sure it’ll come up in another 10 years.”
