Steeplejack fills tall order in Nahant

NAHANT – More than a century old and 100 feet tall, the Town Hall flagpole was a comfortable place for steeplejack Joshua Klockars to work on Wednesday as he repaired wood rot about halfway up the pole.”I like heights,” explained the Newburyport resident, who said his resume includes vertigo-inducing jobs in New York City and working high atop Boston’s Old North Church.The town hired Klockars to repair the flagpole as part of a structural inspection and evaluation of the pole approved by the town along with any additional repairs.Local records date the pole to Town Hall’s construction in 1912, although another account dates it to 1910. Crafted in a Philadelphia shipyard and originally intended to be a ship’s mast, the pole is a single, solid length of oak. Its size required it to be transported by sea to Nahant, and a town correspondence credits Winthrop Hodges, “who had extensive maritime experience and connections,” with arranging for the pole’s shipment.Plymouth flagpole maker Rick Burke said the Town Hall pole is “super rare.””It’s almost unbelievable,” he said.Burke, owner of All American Signs Plus has been in business since 1992 and said aluminum and fiberglass poles long ago replaced the steel and wood flagpoles erected a half century to 100 years ago.Klockars said rotting in a 20-foot section of the pole halfway up its length may have been caused by the flag, with its attached metal hardware, banging against the pole. Klockars used a special putty to fill in the damaged section and said he expects to finish work by this weekend.Working under the business name, Yankee Steeplejack Company, Klockars said most of his jobs involve chimney and steeple repairs and setting up high-height staging. He strapped chimney ladders to the flagpole’s side to gain access to boards forming a platform around his work area, and he used ropes and harnesses as a safety precaution.He said a childhood love of tree climbing led him to carpentry and roofing work before he transitioned from timber beam construction to steeplejacking.