ON TOP

By Marilyn Armstrong on October 9, 2021 • ( 2 )

How’s your roof? Ours is okay, so far. No loose shingles. No leaks. No holes. It’s just that it’s 20 years old and every time I look at it, I start to worry. Who knew we’d live in this house longer than the roof’s warranty?

**The Tea Party Museum on the Boston wharf has a teapot up top**

**It’s a roof. Pointy, but a roof. Built it myself.** **Okay, Owen helped.**

**Inside the mall. I appreciate the elegant lighting.**

For this photo of Uxbridge’s 1880s Unitarian Universalist Church, I’m thrilled it’s being restored. It had been abandoned for at least 18 years. It’s in the middle of town. Its back overlooks the Mumford River and it faces the Common. After the congregation moved to the UU church in Mendon (heated) was put up for sale. There were no buyers. The church only holds 225 people if you pack them in, body-to-body. The building is unheated and has no parking. Its primary claim to fame? It’s beautiful.

Last year, a local group who restores old classic buildings bought it. I was so pleased. I feared it would end up being bulldozed. Now, it will be our town museum. There couldn’t be a better location for it.

They are working on it. It looks strange when you drive into town. The spire is the tallest building in the village and it’s currently surrounded by a blue cage. I think blue plastic is stretched around it. It’s New England. Winter is coming.

As of yesterday, they are peeling back the old exterior paint and getting back to raw cedar shakes. I don’t know if they are working on the interior at the same time. It will take at least another year — more likely two or three — before it’s done. It’s such a perfect little church, a genuine classic white clapboard church. Great spire.