T he new HVAC system may be a sign of the times, but it’s the higher-pitched dongs coming from a 19th-century treasure — a 7-foot, 3-inch-tall grandfather clock purchased through $9,000 in donations — that are getting all the attention at the Sunapee Historical Society’s Archives building at the corner of Main Street and Route 11.
Thanks to some chance conversations, a bit of research and a lot of community support, the timepiece has been returned to Sunapee 216 years after “mechanical genius” Whittier Perkins (1764-1813) crafted the wooden-geared clockworks here.
“We are just delighted to have it. It’s a complex piece of Sunapee artistry,” said Becky Rylander, the historical society’s president.
One of the sellers, John Delaney, who with his brother, Sean, operates Delaney Antique Clocks in West Townsend, Mass., and are familiar to television audiences as the go-to clock experts on PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow,” personally drove the clock up to Sunapee earlier this month.
“To put (an antique) back in its hometown is just about as good as it gets,” Delaney said. “A lot of times, clocks are bought by institutions and museums or given away and then they are buried for generations.
“In this particular case, when I walked into the historical society, they said, ‘We want to put it right up (front) so it’s the first thing you see when you walk through the door,’” he said. “From my perspective, it doesn’t get any better than that. It’s not like they stuffed it into a corner or hid it. Every delivery is nice but this was really quite special.”
The public can see — and hear — the clock on Mondays during the archives building’s hours from 1 to 4 p.m. or by appointment at other times and dates.
Keeping time
Whittier Perkins settled in Sunapee in 1788, along with his two siblings and their father. Two years later, Perkins purchased an 85 acres of land and built a homestead on North Road. He married Jenny Messner in 1793 and served as selectman from 1800 to 1802. He was 49 when he died at home in 1813.
Members of the historical society, established in 1973, had known about some of the dates surrounding the family and its farming enterprises, but they hadn’t known about Perkins’ clockmaking business.
Then they received an email from a collector who had seen a grandfather clock of particular interest advertised by the Delaneys. Its face was signed by Perkins, who is listed as being from a New Hampshire town that in 1805 was known as Wendell.
The society soon learned how rare this find was and turned to longtime mentor, Gordon Ramspott, for advice. Though the volunteer-run historical society has always relied on donations of artifacts for its collections, Ramspott felt this was a purchase they needed to consider.
“He told me, ‘You really ought to have that clock,” Rylander said.
The society’s vice president, Barbara Chalmers, went down to see the clock, and wound up placing a deposit to put the antique on hold. Next came an appeal to supporters for donations to cover the $9,000 price tag and the official purchase of the clock.
Judging from the wooden-geared clockworks construction, the Delaneys believe Perkins trained with clockmakers in Ashby, Mass., before moving to Sunapee.
For this particular grandfather clock, Perkins crafted the clockworks and painted the face of the clock. A local joiner or cabinetmaker likely built the simple but elegantly-shaped case that houses the clockworks.
The bell is cast iron, about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. It produces a higher-pitched ding as opposed to larger-scaled mechanisms that trigger a deeper dong. There is also that characteristic tick-tock of the pendulum. The clock doesn’t have that grinding sound that some other antique clocks have when moving into position to strike the hour.
The society’s archives building is housed in a former library. Its museum is in the old Flanders-Osborne stable at 74 Main St. in Sunapee Harbor. For more information, go to sunapeehistoricalsociety.org or call 603-763-9872.
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It's time: 216 years later, a mechanical genius' clock comes home to Sunapee - The Union Leader
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