A Little Bit of Killington’s History Restored

Last fall, the cross hanging behind Church of Our Saviour at Mission Farm came down for the first time in decades for long-overdue maintenance and restoration. Mitch Kimble, a current member of the church, with advice from a professional woodworker Jeff Wright, restored it in his workshop over the winter.  He removed and repainted the old hardware.  He then sanded the cross down to fresh wood.  Next, he applied a sealer to harden the soft decaying wood and filled in the areas that had rotted away.  Kimble finished by applying 4 coats of spar varnish and replacing the hardware.  His final step was to rehang the cross behind the church in the spring of 2018.

Jeff Wright and Mitch Kimble in front of restored cross 

Kimble became interested in the cross and its history while doing yard work behind the church. He noticed the 10 foot cross hanging above a small cemetery.  It contained four tombstones and the 7 graves for the Rev. Truman Heminway and Gertrude Atkinson Heminway family. Heminway was the Vicar of Church of Our Saviour from 1931-1957. He also served as Moderator of Killington’s Town Meeting for 11 years. The oldest grave is that of Mary Rebecca Hopkins Huntington, 1940-1944, their grandchild. Other graves include those of George Putnam Huntington (priest) 1909-1968 and his wife Honora Mary Heminway 1919-1971; Winifred Sinclair Atkinson 1891-1948 and her husband Frederic Bertram Atkinson 1892-1960. 

Kimble wondered if Heminway hung the cross over his granddaughter’s grave?  Or, had the cross been there since the church was built in 1895? Mary Jenne, member of Church of Our Saviour since her childhood in the 1940s, said the cross has been hanging there for as long as she can remember, and she didn’t know who hung it there. Further investigation yields no more than local lore that seems to confirm the theory that Hemingway placed the cross above his granddaughter’s grave.  

The Rev. Lee Crawford, the current vicar, said the cross hangs directly behind the altar inside the church.  She offered this invitation; “everyone is cordially welcome to visit Church of Our Saviour and this simple, but beautiful wood cross at any time. Simply go behind the church either through the orchard to the right of the building or gardens to the left of the building. You will reconnect with a small, but important, piece of Killington’s history.”