PHILLIPS – Mister Beal’s Bell will ring – again – to begin the Wonderland festival. This year, it hangs in honor in a brand-new bell tower, built by local artisan Ian Reinholt, using old beams from a barn that once stood on the Beal property.
Robert “Bob” Beal was a beloved attorney, Susy Sanders said. He had an office in Rangeley but maintained a small office in his home at 43 Main Street where he did legal work and documents for Phillips residents for little to no charge.
Beal served in Army intelligence during the second World War and traveled the world, bringing home a wild assortment of items he collected on the way. He owned a Stanley Steamer and had a five-foot Chinese gong in his living room. His home, in some ways, resembled a museum.
When Beal passed away in 2008, an auction house distributed most of the items in the house, but a large bell mounted in the rafters of the carriage house proved to be an insurmountable challenge, and it was left there.
After Susy Sanders bought the Beal House and created Morning Bridge Center, she asked several different people, including a couple engineers, about removing the bell from the rafters of the carriage house. She was told it would be impossible to do without removing the roof, and the bell remained there.
For several years the carriage house served as the Fairy Queen’s Bower during the Wonderland children’s festival during Phillips Old Home Days, and the bell was rung to officially open Wonderland.
Recently, Sanders decided to renovate the carriage house to create a studio for her artwork. Wonderland has expanded beyond the space in the carriage house, and she needed more space for her paintings.
The bell remained a sticking point in the operation. Sanders mentioned it to a local craftsman who designed Fairy Annie’s tree house, and he returned the next day and had the bell safely removed from the rafters in a couple hours.
The bell is ready and waiting to ring for Wonderland, which begins on Friday, August 19, at 1 p.m.
