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– St. George’s new weathercock [R] – erected Nov. 20, 2013 –
update (December 1, 2013): We’ve added a few more photos showing the completed copper flashing and shingles, etc., on the steeple. Read about it in the Schenectady Gazette, “St. George’s restores its crowning glory: Restoration work on the steeple at St. George’s Episcopal Church has been completed” (Nov. 30, 2013, by Jeff Wilkin; online subscription req’d); and see the December 2013 Stockade Spy at 12.
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new [L] and old weathercocks, plus Andy K.
After five months without its weathercock, St. George’s steeple had its weathervane re-installed on November 20, 2013. The beautiful old rooster was too deteriorated to be refurbished, and was instead replaced with a replica made of copper, by Lou Venditti of Specialized Sheet Metal, and painted a golden color. Its decorative ball also had to be replaced and is constructed of Sapele wood. The scrollwork and pointer were welded, stripped and repainted by Tom Madelone. A major contractor was steeplejack Dave Knox of Advance Construction and Steeplejacks. Robert A. Petito, Jr., AIA, was the project architect and Dan Kennison did overall supervision. As the project’s structural engineer, Jack Healy of Ryan Biggs Associates assessed the condition of the steeple and designed the steel replacement support for the weathervane assembly.
For more on the weathervane and other aspects of the steeple repair, see the 27-page “St. George’s Steeple Project Report“, and especially David Kennison’s article “St. George’s Historic Weathercock” in the Episcopal Education column of St. George’s September 2013 Newsletter, at 8-9. After much research, Kennison believes the initials “MW” or “MWp” on the weathercock are those of the original blacksmith, Myndert Wemple, with the smaller “p” being an homage to his grandfather, whose nickname was “Post” or “Poest”.
For photos and history of the old weathercock, see our earlier posting “in praise of Stockade weathercocks“.
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– a steeple so nice, we got to see it twice –
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– steeple fully restored (Dec. 1, 2013) –
suns along the Mohawk 
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