New steeple rises up at Reversing Falls Sanctuary
Long-awaited replacement built and installed by Hewes & Company
A new copper-clad steeple sits above the North Brooksville Methodist Church, home of Reversing Falls Sanctuary. Plastic tenting below covers the belfry as it awaits finishing. Photo courtesy of Hewes & Co.
June 19, 2026
By John Epstein
BROOKSVILLE—On June 17, a crew of carpenters from Hewes & Company, a Blue Hill construction firm, arrived at Brooksville’s Reversing Falls Sanctuary. The day’s calm, clear conditions were perfect for the job they came to do: Place a new, copper-clad church steeple atop the tower of the 125-year-old North Brooksville Methodist Church that has housed RFS for the last 25 years.
Veteran crane operator Bill Grant, of Bill’s Boat Yard in Sedgewick, assisted the crew. Grant maneuvered the crane and steeple around tree branches and power lines before gently lowering it into place. “Sometimes you have to be a little creative,” Grant said.
The carpenters completed the installation work by mid-morning.
“I’m holding back tears,” said RFS’s Board President, Bec Poole, when the installation was complete.
The new steeple is lowered onto the building by veteran crane operator Bill Grant. Photo by John Epstein.
The new steeple was built by Hewes & Company last fall and was designed to replace the steeple that had once capped the historic church. The project was the brain-child of the late Mike Hewes, founder of Hewes & Company, and a founding member of RFS.
The nonprofit has been eagerly anticipating the steeple placement, which was held up by fierce weather this winter. Now that it has been placed, the belfry has been tented with plastic as awaits the third and final phase of the project—the finish carpentry and roofing.
RFS has been able to fund this project, in part, thanks to a $60,000 matching fund from the Maine Steeples Fund supported by private donations from members of the greater Blue Hill Peninsula community. RFS expects to launch a fundraising drive this summer as it seeks to match the third and final installment of the Steeples Fund grant.