The Revere bells of Newport

By GLYNIS HART
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NEWPORT – Two are still in the churches they were meant for, and one is in a glass case by the Newport Opera House. 

The Revere bells of Newport, cast by Revere’s heirs between 1822 and 1828, have rung over fire alarms and funerals, expressing jubilation and piety for nearly 200 years — and they are not cracked. 

The bell by the opera house hung in the Newport Universalist-Unitarian Church from 1837 to 1896, when it was sold to the Town of Newport for use at the town hall. But, where it hung before that time is a mystery.

The other two bells, at the First Baptist Church and the South Church, Congregational, were installed in 1822. 

Although Paul Revere became an historical figure thanks to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” during his lifetime he achieved solid success as a silversmith. His father’s name was Apollos Rivoire, which in true American immigrant fashion, he carried forward as Paul Revere. 

After the revolution, Revere expanded his business, opening a hardware store and later a foundry. He turned his silversmithing shop over to one of his sons, and in 1801 went into copper: He saw that the colonies were dependent on England for sheet copper, so he began the first copper rolling mill in the Americas. Although it is no longer owned by family members, Revere Ware continues to produce copper-bottomed cookware.

There are 134 bells known to be inscribed with the Revere name. The first 46 were marked “Paul Revere” while later ones read “Revere and Sons,” or, as with the one by the opera house, “Revere – Boston.” While the two church bells in Newport are definitively dated 1822, the provenance of the third is unknown. The Revere Company records list the known whereabouts of 84 bells, including the two Newport church bells. 

The bell by the opera house weighs 1200 pounds. The one at the Baptist church weights 727 pounds, and the one at South Church, 1241 pounds.