Now I know what to do with those photos – “thanks” to Heather Wilkinson Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy; she blogs Weekly Wednesday Weathervanes in New Hampshire. Please check out her page and enjoy the many unusual weathervane photos and often be entertained with a history lesson. It’s amazing at what you can encounter in your travels – You Just Need To Look Up!

Weekend Weathervanes:

The Newtown Bee

There’s a giant BEE buzzing in Newtown!!!

We travel through Newtown, CT. on many Sunday mornings as we head to The Elephant Trunk in New Milford… our favorite flea market… and not until today did I glance up to catch sight of a huge bumblebee weathervane hovering over The Newtown Bee. As it was too early for photos, I made a mental note to stop on our trip home; it actually took another trip later in the week, on a better day, for my photos.

The giant bumblebee weathervane makes quite an impressive sight as it hovers over the red house… offices of The Newtown Bee; they also publish Antiques and The Arts Weekly which we read quite faithfully when we frequented auctions.

The Newtown Bee Publishing Company

The copper bumblebee perched on the cupola above The Newtown Bee office at 5 Church Hill Road was installed on July 23, 1974; designed and created in the metalwork studio of John Hallock, Bethlehem, CT.

Another famous landmark!

John Hallock, well known as a restorer of antique metal sculpture is said to be able to reproduce anything asked of him, specializing in sheet metal and copper; making anything new – look old.

Within only a year of flight above The Newtown Bee, in February 1975, the town “Bee” was stolen off the cupola. It was found about ten days later, but not intact. The Bee was discovered in several pieces in a nearby pond where the thieves discarded it. Mr. Hallock was called in to repair the weathervane and soon restored it to the cupola where it happily began spinning its wings again in the wind.

The Bee happily flew above their offices for almost 19 years before Mr. Hallock was called in once again in 2004 to repair another vandalism. The famous “Bee” wasn’t completely taken but had lost both wings, one of its antennae, and one of its six legs. One of the missing parts was actually recovered on site, the antenna was found in the gutter on the Bee building.

There was a question on whether an inside home should be found for their “bee” after the last vandalize attempt, but later it was decided to return the Bee to its landmark perch… where it’s been safely spinning in the wind ever since.