For The Love Of Weathervanes

How many weathervanes have you noticed? Perhaps you notice them only if you have a love for them.

The first recorded use of a weathervane is from 48 BC in Athens, Greece where it stood atop the Tower of the Winds and honored the Greek god Triton.

In ancient times the people believed the wind to have divine powers and weathervanes in pre-Christian times depicted the ancient gods such as the one honoring Triton, which carried a figure that had the head and torso of a man and the tail of a fish, as Triton was a god of the seas.

Weathervanes decorated the villas of the rich landowners of the time.

It is reported that in the ninth century AD the pope called on every European church to show a cock on its steeple or dome as a reminder of the prophecy Jesus made that the cock would not crow the morning after the Last Supper until Peter had denounced Him three times. Since that time, weathervanes or "weather cocks" have topped steeples for centuries all over Europe and America.

Have you ever heard of the Bayeaux Tapestry? It was done in the 11th century and includes a scene of a rooster weathervane beiing attached to the Westminster Abbey.

On the original vanes, there were cloth pennants that showed the wind direction. In fact, the word vane comes from the Anglo-Saxon word "fane" which means flag. These pennants were later replaced by the metal ones, which were balanced to turn in the wind. These metal ones were made with the coat of arms of whom it belonged to. These were the forebearers of the banners which the American colonists used for their public halls and buildings.

Deacon Shem Drowne of Boston was the first weathervane maker in America according to records. He made the grasshopper vane on the top of Boston's Faneuil Hall in 1742, the banner for Boston's Old North Church in 1740, the rooster that now stands atop the First Chruch in Cambridge, and the copper Indian that stands on Boston's Province House in 1716.

George Washington commissioned a "Dove of Peace" weathervane for Mount Vernon in 1787 to commemorate the end ot he Revolutionary War.

At the turn of the century, in the early 1800's, the popular American weathervanes had patriotic designs such as the Goddess of Liberty and the Federal Eagle. Later famous racing horses were depicted on vanes, such as Smuggler, Black Hawk and George M. Patchen, modeled after the Currier and Ives prints that were so popular then.

Dozens of weathervane designs were mass-produced in the 19th century by makers who became very famous .. such as L.W. Cushing, J.W. Fiske, Harris & Co, and E.G. Washburne & Co.

When that century came to an end, Victorian buildings everywhere bore weathervanes of fancy elaborate metalwork on literally every inch of the roofs... following the decor of the time. Today the Victorian copperwork of those times are in high demand for Victorian Revival homes of today.

A simpler life style that followed the Victorian age is depicted in the weathervanes also. They became a simple silhouette style, with many depicting sports or humorous figures.

Today's weathervane makers reproduce those of the past as well as modern ones depicting today's life.

Now the next time you notice a weathervane, perhaps you will look to see if you can tell from what time period it may have been derived. Perhaps you will wonder if it is an original or a reproduction.

Perhaps you will one day be forever looking for the next one ...  just for the love of weathervanes.