Rev. Jim Bell is not one to run in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race.
“No,” said the minister of music at Peachtree Christian Church, the elegant Midtown landmark that greets runners just after crossing the bridge over the Connector. “I sit out there and watch y’all suffer.”
Bell, though, nonetheless makes a unique contribution to the world’s largest 10-kilometer race. He is caretaker of the tower chimes that spur runners on annually on the Fourth of July with patriotic favorites such as “God Bless America” and “America, the Beautiful.”
Through tones hammered on chimes weighing more than 500 pounds, “America (My Country ’Tis of Thee)” will cascade up and down Peachtree Saturday morning, emanating from an instrument dating back to 1928. The music, as well as a water station, greet participants after the trudge up Cardiac Hill, the reknown incline from Peacthree Battle Avenue to Piedmont Hospital.
“It means a lot to me,” said church member Joe Gardner, one of the city’s noted architects and the owner of a 37-Peachtree streak that he’ll extend Saturday. “I think what’s important also is, because of our location - it’s there at the corner of Peachtree and Spring across from The Temple - the ecumenical spirit is good and the outreach to the city is good. It’s good to share what we have with those running the race in a spirit of support and community.”
The 21-chime instrument, supported by a wooden rack standing about 15 feet tall, is lodged in the belfry of the church’s turreted tower at the intersection of Peachtree and Spring streets. The church itself was established in 1925, to serve what was then considered the city’s northside. The Gothic Revival-style sanctuary was dedicated in 1928, modeled after Melrose Abbey in Scotland. A sense of the city’s history pervades the building, which is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
The pulpit was a gift of the widow of Frank Mason Robinson, who suggested the name and logo for Coca-Cola. The land for the church was donated by A.G. Rhodes, founder of Rhodes Furniture. The chimes themselves were a gift from Rhodes’ children, one of whom was the wife of the church’s founding pastor.
Sunlight filters into the sanctuary through what is claimed to be the largest collection of English stained glass windows outside of England.
Over time, however, the chimes fell into disrepair. Bell believes they went silent for decades. But they were restored in 1987, a job that included the removal of inches-deep pigeon droppings in the belfry, a task lovingly undertaken by members of the church choir.
Said Bell, “It was good to bring the old girl back to life again.”
The instrument is a marvel, played either on the original keyboards or a player piano-style mechanism that connects to the chimes by electric relays. In the belfry, strikers bang the chimes, the largest perhaps 12 feet long and about four inches in diameter, with such force that the wooden frame shakes with each note.
In few places is the phrasing of “from ev’ry mountainside/let freedom ring” felt as forcefully and literally as within arm’s length of the chimes, perhaps 100 feet above Peachtree.
The chimes are not played frequently anymore; the church relies on an electronic carillon. But, housed in their tower of red brick and limestone, they will find their voice again on Saturday, escorting 60,000 Peachtree participants towards Piedmont Park.
Said Gardner, “It’s refreshing.”
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