In the eight months since this blog began, I have had a number of unique photo opportunities.  The Thursday I went up with ‘the cranks’ is right up near the top of those experiences.  We met in the lobby of Abbot hall and headed up an elevator then a set of ladders to the crank room.  Abbot’s clock and bell are driven by two large, heavy counterweights that need to be raised once weekly in order to keep time.  It is the job of the cranks to rotate two wheels on this machine that serves to slowly raise those weights.  The camaraderie of the group was awesome – some of these guys have been at this for decades.  The room itself was a testament to those that had been there and cranked it – there are names scratched into the paneling from almost 150 years of weekly volunteers.

On the way back, I had a minute to shoot Abbot’s bell