Brett Davis recreates bell that heralded Underground Railroad
By Bill Rea

Brett Davis stands beside the bell that was commissioned by the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum.

Black History Month in February is likely to be rung in literally in Buxton, largely thanks to the efforts of local sculptor Brett Davis.

Davis has recently finished a commission from the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum to recreate a replica bell. The original is still housed atop a church tower in nearby Chatham.

Buxton was one of the stops or stations in the famed Underground Railroad, which helped slaves escape to Canada prior to the American Civil War, and a number of these black people settled there, establishing farms, schools, churches, etc. Davis said he understands descendants of slaves are still living in the area. The original bell was given to the black people of the Buxton area by black people in Pittsburgh in 1850, and Davis said it reportedly rang every time a slave made it across the border from the States.

The original bell was cast by A. Fulton of Pittsburgh and it bears the embossed words "Presented to the Rev. Wm. King by the coloured inhabitants of Pittsburgh for the Academy at Raleigh C.West."

The lettering on the bell was uneven, leading Davis to believe it might have been put on by the people in Pittsburgh who presented the bell in 1850.

The "C. West" referred to Canada West, and the words did contain the traditional Canadian spelling of "colour." Davis also speculated that Raleigh might have been a school, since there is a story that the bell was hung in a school before it was put in the church.

He added in the days of slavery, before the Civil War, things could go very rough on slaves who escaped and were caught, along with those who assisted them. Such people could face fines, imprisonment or execution. There were many sympathetic white people willing to help the slaves get away. "A lot of them did risk their lives," Davis said. He added there were numerous spies who would befriend runaways while trying to get them south and back in the clutches of the authorities.

The Underground Railroad was a means for these people to escape. While the name is figurative (it had no trains or rail tracks), it was seen as a railroad, and Davis said railway terms were used as a sort of code.

The new bell is cast of bronze and he said it weighs 570 pounds. The surrounding work, including the frame holding it, the wheel and clapper, are all made of iron and they all weigh at about 500 pounds.

Although the people in Buxton commissioned a replica of the bell, Davis was not allowed to actually see the original. Being housed atop a church tower, authorities there wouldn't let him go up and see it (he thought liability concerns might have had something to do with that). Instead, he was given pictures, told the height and diameter of the bell, and had to make do with that.

"I had to make the whole thing form photographs," he said.

"There's a difference between making a bell and making a sculpture," he added. "A big difference."

He explained he started the project with a block of Styrophoam, and cut away at it until he had the essence of the bell.

"If I did it traditionally, it would have looked too commercial, too rigid," he added.

He also copied the style of the writing on the bell. The pictures clearly showed the letters were a little uneven, and embossed rather than engraved. Davis said his theory is it was not the artisans, but the people presenting the bell themselves who placed the letters on it.

"This is a functioning bell too," he observed. "It really does ring."

Davis said he hopes this new bell will come to represent the essence of freedom for black people, considering they were taken from their homes and brought across the ocean as slaves. Resulting generations were born into slavery.

This project has been something of an awakening for Davis, in terms of what the slaves must have endured.

"I really hope this bell can become a symbol for peace," he said.

Davis said he wasn't sure of the timeline for the movement of the bell. It's slated to go to the museum in Buxton for an unveiling sometime in the spring, but he said there's something in the works for Black History Month, possibly in Buxton. It will eventually wind up as a focal piece in the museum there, as a symbol of the slave trade.

"I like doing these projects for different cultures," he said. "It gives me more of an understanding of where people are coming from."

"I really love doing this kind of work," he remarked. "It's a different feeling when you're doing something for somebody else, rather than doing something that comes from yourself."

He added the job could have been done by a foundry, but not with the same feeling.