Page:Bruton parish church restored and its historic environments (1907 V2).djvu/90

 Organ Company, of Boston, and the parts which were thought to be of any value, shipped to the Organ Company.

On the 18th day of May, a contract was made with Messrs. G. B. Keeler & Son, of Petersburg, Virginia, to remove the partition wall, the gallery in the east end of the church, the floor, the old plastering, etc., for the sum of $316, which included the cost of building a large room in the churchyard for storing the pews, where they were placed and kept until as many as necessary were placed in the present gallery of the church, and in the Parish House, the remainder having been given to Christ's Church, Amelia Court House, Virginia.

On Monday, May the 22nd, this work was begun. While removing the floor at the west end of the church, two cannon balls were discovered, a large number of unused army cartridges, and the Sunday School book of 1832, containing the roll of teachers and scholars. Upon the removal of the plaster, the blocking was found, indicating the size and elevation of the colonial pews, the location of the sounding board over the old pulpit at the southeast corner, and also the blocking at the opposite corner, which had doubtless been used in some way to give support to the canopy over the colonial governor's pew; and also the blocking indicating the location of the galleries in the transepts and nave of the church.

Two pieces of flag stone were found cemented where they had been placed in the original aisle of the church, enabling us to determine its original width and elevation. In the east wall of the church, near the southeast corner, indications were found of a door or window, which had subsequently been bricked up, and at the point now marked by the boundary stone in the chancel, the foundations of the east wall of the church as built in 1710, were discovered, an addition at the east end having been made in 1751.

On June 27th, plans and specifications were received, and on the 4th of July, the contract for the structural work was awarded to Messrs. G. B. Keeler & Son, Petersburg, Va.,