The golden rooster that keeps watch over Cambridge Common atop the spire of the First Church in Cambridge will be leaving Harvard Square after 150 yearsthis fall, and the congregation will soonbegin discussions on whether it should be sold and if they will install a replacement, church officials said.
The historic weathervane was created in 1721 by Shem Drowne, the same coppersmith who made the grasshopper on top of Faneuil Hall, and was designed for a church in Boston’s North End, according to the First Church.
At age 302, the weathervane itself is quite weathered on one side: video shot by a drone shows considerable erosion of the gilding on the right-facing side of the cockerel, especially along the tailfeathers, according to the Congregational church on Garden Street.
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