The climb to the top of Boston’s Old South Church bell tower is a labyrinth of steps and catwalks stretching more than 200 feet into the air. Thin railings are the only thing to hold on to as you trek up through two cavernous, dungeon-like rooms.
It’s a treacherous journey for the uninitiated. But David Vogan navigates this trip with the grace of a cat sneaking up a bookshelf.
Beyond this perilous Jacob’s Ladder, you’re rewarded with a heavenly view of Copley Square and the Boston Marathon finish line.
The first time Vogan was up here, he was awestruck. The view includes landmarks like the Great Dome at MIT, the Charles River and the Boston Public Library. The Prudential Center looms in the background. As he put it, the city is gorgeous.
“You can see a lot,” Vogan said.
He’s a relatively quiet man, but Vogan has one of the loudest jobs on Marathon Monday. He’s the one who rings the bell, which weighs about 2,000 pounds, as the first-place finishers cross the line on Patriots’ Day.
And although it’s a relatively new tradition, it’s become an integral part of the Boston Marathon experience.
The marathon’s finish line has been moved several times over the years. It took its current position on Boylston Street in 1985. Vogan began ringing the bell on race day sometime in the 1990s.
“We talked about ringing the bells for the marathon winners since the finish line is right here, the bell is right here, it seemed like a really natural kind of celebration of them,” he said.
On the day of the marathon, the operation is a team effort between Vogan and his wife, Lois Corman. He pulls the rope that swings the bell — but only on her cue. She peers out a window in the bell tower to let him know when the first-place finishers are getting close.
“I decided that a ‘lookout’ was needed because I wanted to come along,” Corman said. “That’s the long and the short of it.”
The bell itself has an oxidized green hue, one that’s come in since it was forged in 1895. And its ring is mighty.
The Old South Church’s bell rings.
Hear the bell ring
‘A singular instrument’
Nancy Taylor is the senior minister emeritus of Old South Church. As she puts it, the bell is the church’s “outdoor voice.”
“It’s a singular instrument that most other buildings don’t have,” said Taylor. “It’s something that everyone in the neighborhood, like it or not, can hear.”
Vogan also rings the bell on Sundays before the start of the church service. He took a break from ringing it at the height of the pandemic as everyone hunkered down and avoided congregating. But one day, a doctor who lived nearby reached out and asked why the bell had stopped.
“Of course, I’m a sucker for anything like that. So I started coming in and ringing the bell before the Zoom service every week,” Vogan said. “And eventually the surgeon came over and he rang the bell.”
Tucked in the shadows of the glass and metal skyscrapers that dominate the Back Bay, the Old South Church is a bridge to Boston’s past.
Boston Athletic Association CEO Jack Fleming points out that other major marathons usually just play some type of hype music when winners cross the line. But the Old South Church bell helps make Boston unique.
“We are fortunate to attend or observe lots of races, not just lots of marathons. [I’ve] never heard anything like it,” Fleming said.
Vogan, now in his 70s, rings the bell as a volunteer. He worked at MIT for years and is a professor emeritus of mathematics.
But when asked which of those two jobs is more thrilling, the answer is easy for the man from whom the bell tolls.
“You know, I retired from the math department five years ago. This, they’ll have to carry — pry it from my cold, dead hands or something,” Vogan said with a laugh.
