Lebanon Academy backers look to benefit to save bell

The historic Lebanon Academy in Center Lebanon. (Courtesy Lebanon Academy Facebook Page)

CENTER LEBANON - It's been three years since the bell at Lebanon Academy has rung out clear and loud on Sunday morning, but supporters of the academy hope a Founder's Day Celebration fund-raiser next month will bring in the needed cash to allow it to ring once again.

The celebration will mark the 200^th birthday of Orin B. Cheney, who founded the private school in 1850. Cheney later went on to found Bates College and was regarded as a champion of racial equality and women's rights.

The Lebanon Academy, located in Lebanon's historic district at Five Corners on Academy Lane, no longer has students, but it does provide space for the town's Historical Society and Bible study classes.

Orin B. Cheney

Sadly, the beam that holds the bell in its belltower is rotting, according to Lebanon Academy Board of Trustees treasurer Shelley LaPanne, which is why a Founder's Day Celebration will be held next month on Sept. 10 to raise money for its repair.

"It's a beautiful historic building, but the beam is rotten and if that beam goes that bell is going through three floors," LaPanne said on Wednesday.

She said the estimate trustees got to fix the beam and stabilize the bell and belltower was about $25,000.

The celebration will run from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. and will include a silent auction, craft tables, a penny sale, children's games, food, carriage rides with Steve Collins of Belgian Meadows Farm, music and guided tours of the academy.

Some of the other groups involved in putting on the fund-raiser include the Daughters of the American Revolution, the West Lebanon Ladies Circle, the Dorcas Society and the Lebanon Historical Society.

LaPanne said craft tables will be available at $25 for one 10-by-10-foot space, or $40 for two spaces.

There will also be a showing of antique cars, she added.

For more info, or to rent a table, call LaPanne at 603-509-0529.