Made in Virginia: The Story of the New Cupola

by Kate Gutierrez - The Landmark, Holden MA. - December 23, 1999

As Jim Donovan was pulling out of the Naquag School driveway in September, he noticed renovations underway at the old fire barn across the street. And he noticed particularly that the roof sported just a stump, where a bell and cupola must have once been.

So he inquired about the building at Community Hall and was sent to the fire station, where he met with Tom Ruchala, and said he'd like to build Ruchala a cupola.

As luck would have it, Donovan, who lives in Virginia, was staying in town for a few more days, so at Ruchala's invitation he attended the fire brigade meeting the next night.

"I talked to them for a half hour, saw the building, and pretty much got the contract that night," said Donovan.

Ruchala said the fire brigade had been looking for someone to build a new cupola for the 1897 fire barn, just as Donovan, who was visiting family in the area (his niece Beth Burnham is a fifth-grade teacher at Central Tree Middle School), came to town.

Donovan's company, Architectural Accents, specializes in building cupolas, lampposts and screen and storm doors and windows. Although the company is based many states away in Waynesboro, VA., Ruchala recognized the logo on Donovan's card. He had seen it in an ad in one of his favorite magazines, "Fine Homebuilding." Score two for Donovan.

Donovan returned to Virginia with the only structural information on the building that the fire brigade could dig up-some very rough blueprints from the 1933 addition of a second story.

On his next trip north, Donovan picked up the bell. Although no one is 100 percent sure, Ruchala and Donovan believe the bell is the same one which hung in the original cupola in 1897. Photographs from the turn of the century show the bell in the fire barn's cupola.

"There's an excellent chance this is the original firehouse bell," said Donovan.

Original or not, the 28-inch cast iron bell had been kicking around town for some time, and was in need of repairs. Donovan took it back to Virginia to mend it and eventually "swing" it into its "cradle" within the cupola.

Maiden Voyage

As Donovan prepared for the delivery of the new cupola-and-old-bell structure, he realized just what he'd got himself into.

"The sucker is big," said Donovan, the day before he was to take the structure on its maiden voyage to Rutland. "it's a monster."

The cupola is 6 feet, 6 inches by 6 feet, 6 inches, and 11 feet, 4 inches tall, not including the copper spire. With the bell, Donovan estimated the structure to weigh in at about 1,500 pounds. The entire thing was built on top of the 8- by 14-foot flatbed trailer it rode into town on.

According to Ruchala, Donovan will receive between $4,500 and $5,000 for the job, paid for by the never-ending fundraising efforts of the fire brigade.

Usually his drive from Ruckersville to Rutland takes 10 hours, but last week Donovan spent two careful days transporting the cupola. He contacted each state's highway department ahead of time, checking on bridge heights and appropriate routes for his special cargo.

"We got a little bit of rain, but it went real smooth," said Donovan about the journey. "[There were] a lot of people looking at it, a lot of thumbs up, a lot of smiles."

He and the cupola spent Thursday night in East Brookfield with a plan to meet Ruchala, Randy Jordan, Harry Spencer and a crane at the old fire barn at 8 a.m. on Friday.

But Donovan was too excited to wait. "This is the first time I've seen one of my cupolas go up, usually we just build them," he said.

Time To Wake Up

"I got the chief's address," said Donovan. "So at about 7:15 [in the morning] we're at the chief's house, ringing the bell to wake him. It was like one of the old movies, you know, the window flies open and there he is bleary-eyed."

Said Ruchala, "I heard ding, ding and said 'oh no, he's here.'"

The crane lifted the cupola without a hitch, and after fire brigade members bolted it in place, Donovan went up in the bucket of the fire ladder to right the copper spire, marking the end of his work for the Rutland Fire Brigade, and the beginning of a new chapter for the old fire barn.

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