Organ Maintenance and History

1. Organ Maintenance 2011-present  (Thompson Pipe Organ Co.)

2. Organ Restoration, 1999 (Rappahannock Pipe Organ Co.)

RAPPAHANNOCK PIPE ORGAN COMPANY —————–   V I L L A G E , V I R G I N I A   —————– Create Your Own History. ST PETERS ORGAN     Restoration of an 1850 George Stevens Organ St. Peter’s Episcopal Church Port Royal, Virginia   The total restoration time in 1999 for this instrument was 6 months. The original finish had been destroyed, and an authentic new finish was in order. Research was performed to verify everything from the date of construction to the most authentic wind pressure. All broken or missing parts were hand made in our shop. Specifications for the George Stevens organ: 1 manual, 59 notes, GG to ff compass 13 foot pedals, GG to G compass Mechanical key and stop actions Mechanical swell shades with hitch-down pedal Winded on 3" pressure Stop List: 16 Bourdon 4 Flute 8 Open Diapason 2 2/3 Twelth 8 Stopped Diapason 2 Fifteenth 8 Dulciana 8 Hautbois 4 Octave Man to Ped – Coupler

Notes on George Stevens from Hidden Village – Port Royal, Virginia 1844-1981 by Rev. Ralph Fall

George Stevens was born April 22, 1803 in Norway, Maine and became carpenter in his teen age years. He may have been employed by 1820 by Willam M. Goodrich, organ builder in Boston. He moved the shop from Boston to Otis and Fifth Streets East Cambridge Mass in 1820, the site of the George Stevens Factory for almost 60 years. Goodrich died in 1833 and Stevens succeeded in the business. Stevens died August 14, 1892 in East Cambridge

Stevens built 800 organs over his lifetime but the St. Peter’s 1850 organ is the only one in Virginia. It is a pine case gothic model of 1 manual with 59 keys. The console is recessed with sliding doors and finished with rosewood around keyboard. 13 narrow pedal keys operate manual pipes by a coupler, and there are "two combination pedals which move the stop-knobs of the four Diapason ranks." Another pedal operates the swell shades in front of all the pipes; the gilded wood-case pipes at the front of the case are dummies.

Inside the church in a window sill toward the front is a case of some of the original organ  stop knobs :