Swampscott cemetery chapel gets loving care

SWAMPSCOTT – The 250-pound front doors have sealed Andrews Chapel for most of the last 20-odd years. But this Friday, the doors were opened again, after local furniture restorer and resident Ron Trapasso devoted his winter – and his free time – to repairing the 85-year-old oak doors.”This is just a huge, huge thing he’s done for us,” said Deb Bogardus, the Chair of the Andrews Chapel Restoration Committee. “And he did it for free.”Ellen Andrews commissioned the Andrews Chapel in Swampscott Cemetery at the death of her husband and former Selectman Isaac H. Andrews in 1923. The stone, interdenominational chapel can hold approximately 120 people and was the location of many small services through the 1960s, Bogardus said. Ellen Andrews donated approximately $33,000 to build the chapel, Bogardus noted.But the chapel has been used less and less frequently over the past 40 years, as the cemetery has expanded away from the building, committee members said. In fact, Bogardus was the last person to hold a service in the chapel, a memorial service for her sister. But that was in 2001 and she said that she was surprised that she was given permission to use the disheveled building.”It was a mess,” she recalled.Afterwards, the neglect continued.Ten years ago, Town Meeting appropriated $100,000 to restore the building, but it was never used, restoration committee member Toni DiLisio said. Animals moved in as holes appeared in the roof and plaster work crumbled, she said, as she illuminated the building’s interior with her flashlight on Friday.But two years ago, the restoration committee began devoting themselves to restoring the building.”We were determined we were going to get this thing repaired,” Bogardus said. The committee spent $100,000 to repair the masonry in the tower and front façade and repaired the slate roof.The doors required special care.Trapasso, the owner of Attwill Furniture Co. in Lynn, said that the doors are made of three layers of oak beadboard paneling stacked on end and nailed together. He said that the door was probably made on site by carpenters, as it uses the paneling from the chapel walls. But over the years – the doors are original – the layers separated and the wood became discolored, he said. He explained that the beadboard essentially acted as straws and sucked up the moisture that collected on the stone steps over which they hung.To restore the wood, Trapasso estimates he spent nearly 70 hours reconstructing and then varnishing the doors to seal them from water. He removed the iron strap hinges and even found the doors were originally painted a bright green.”It was a very time-consuming project,” said his wife Joyce. “It was a labor of love; something he doesn’t normally do.”The committee said that they hope Trapasso’s volunteer spirit will inspire others to help in the second phase of restoration. This includes repairing the masonry on the rest of the building, repairing the leaded-glass windows that have been vandalized, and correcting all the water damage in the interior of the building. Town Meeting in May approved $85,000 for work this upcoming year.The committee has also submitted an application for the chapel and the oldest corner of the cemetery to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, committee member Mary Cassidy said.”The men who worked here said they were ?privileged’ to work on such beautiful stone and such a beautifully built structure,” Cassidy said.Bogardus said that she hopes that citizens recognize and embrace the building’s craftsmanship and history.”I want people to know it’s here for all the town’s use,” she said. “It’s interdenominational, anybody can use it, all you have to do is ask? when it’s done.”As for the completion date, Bogardus had one specific deadline.”I want to be buried from here,” she said.