One of our most prominent – and treasured – artifacts on display at the Yarmouth History Center is the Flaming Arrow Weathervane. This artifact is part of the collection because of the efforts of two groups of Yarmouth residents who believed in preserving our heritage.
Known to be the final addition to the steeple of Yarmouth’s 1730 “Old Ledge” Meeting House, this copper weathervane is a significant part of our town’s heritage. Battered by stones and shot, and scrawled with graffiti the Flaming Arrow Weathervane had suffered from decades of neglect. In a letter dated August of 1877, Miss Mary G. Prince relates what happened to the weathervane after the “Old Ledge” Meeting House was demolished and how Mr. Soloman Winslow removed the weathervane from the site. Mary recounted that in 1838 a group of Yarmouth residents raised the funds to buy the weathervane from Mr. Winslow. They then arranged to have it restored, mounted on an iron rod, and placed on top of the ledge overlooking the original site of the “Old Ledge” Meeting House.
As the years passed, a few Yarmouth families passed down the story of the weathervane; however, much was lost over time. Robert Collins, a trustee of the Yarmouth Historical Society who was familiar with the stories, researched the forgotten weathervane. In 1968, few people were aware that the weathervane was still standing on the ledge, hidden among the pine trees. Had more people known about its existence, it may have been sold as scrap metal or offered to an antique dealer. Today the weathervane’s old supports still exist in the woods at the top of the ledge just off the West Side Trail, a short climb up from the crosswalk at Garrison Lane and Route 88.
One hundred and thirty years later, Mr. Collins sought to rescue the weathervane just as his predecessors did in 1838. With permission from Mr. and Mrs. Merrill Haskell who owned the property where it was located, and assisted by his two grandsons, Mr. Collins pried the weathervane from the ledge. The Haskell family donated the Flaming Arrow Weathervane to the Historical Society, and Mr. Collins put it on display at the Merrill Memorial Library, where the Society was originally housed. Today you can view the Flaming Arrow Weathervane at the Yarmouth History Center at 118 East Elm Street, and read Mr. Collins’s account of how he removed the Weathervane from the ledge.
