The years-long project to preserve a piece of Wiscasset’s skyscape is reaching new heights in funding. St. Philip’s Episcopal Church has won more than $14,000 in a grant to restore the Hodge Street church’s steeple, the tallest and the oldest in town, according to Seaver Leslie, co-chairman of the church’s committee on the project.

“It’s very, very exciting,” Leslie said about the grant.

The money is from an anonymous donor particularly interested in helping projects on old church steeples in small Maine communities, Maggie Drummond-Bahl, a senior program officer with the Maine Community Foundation, said. Thanks to the same donor, the foundation has also recently awarded grants to projects at Newcastle’s Second Congregational Church and Second Congregational Church in Warren, Drummond-Bahl said in a phone interview.

The St. Philip’s application was strong in criteria including the historic significance of the building, the church’s ability to finance the fund and manage the project, and how well the construction plans will restore the steeple and maintain the historic integrity. Drummond-Bahl said.

The project dates to late 2013, when the stanchion, the wooden base for the church bell’s yokes, was discovered to be rotted, members have said. The church replaced it and the bell’s wheel, did some work on the stairs to the belfry and restored the spire atop the belfry, according to members.

In spring 2015, members said the effort was pausing while the church looked at preserving its outreach programs. Those include the Help Yourself Shelf pantry, Feed Our Scholars, and the Bargain Basement.

The grant has been a hope for about a year, and its award is a boost to the steeple project, Leslie said. Mailings and other efforts will follow, to ensure people know the project is still on and that matching funds are needed, Leslie said. “It’s going to be completed,” he said about the project.

“It’s really important to get help from the community ... to preserve this magnificent steeple,” he added.The belfry needs reroofing; the tower, scraping and painting.

The foundation informed the church of the award in a recent letter, which, according to it, came with the first, $7,424 installment. The church gets the other half after completing the project and turning in a final report, the letter states.

Leslie views the grant as not only good news for the church, but also for Wiscasset’s place in Maine’s architectural history. Gilded Age architect Francis Fassett of Bath designed the 1850s steeple, built with Wiscasset’s skilled shipbuilding workforce, Leslie said. “They were great craftsmen. It’s incredibly crafted, the way it’s put together. The engineering is absolutely brilliant.”

He shared the steeple’s history in an interview at his pre-1760, Dickinson Road cape, the remains of the Foye Tavern. Leslie’s family goes back centuries in Wiscasset.

The St. Philip’s steeple’s Gothic elements, done in wood, were very unusual, Leslie said. “So this is an important landmark in New England, and as people are driving across the bridge, entering town, they see this ... It’s a beacon.”

St. Philip’s member and Edgecomb resident Linda Trowbridge, interviewed separately, remarked on the view from the Donald E. Davey Bridge. She always looks for the steeple, she said.

In an interview two years ago, member Jon Young also noted the steeple’s significance to the Wiscasset skyline. On June 25, he described the new grant as an absolutely wonderful opportunity.

“And to me it shows there is support in a larger range for protecting these structures,” Young said.

Seaver is confident the project will see fruition. “It’s going to be completed.” The committee has a goal of Labor Day 2017, he said. Currently, Sheepscot River Joinery in Wiscasset is making new moldings to match the original ones in the tempietto, Leslie said.

“It’s authentic to the way Fassett designed it. This is what good historic preservation is all about.”

For more on St. Philip’s or to ask about donating toward the steeple’s restoration, call the church at 882-7184. On Sunday, July 3, the church’s Facebook page announced that a hand-stitched quilt will be raffled off in the fall to help match the grant.