Belle Brown Northcott Memorial Carillon

*Location:

   Luray Singing Tower
   Luray Caverns
   West Main Street (US Hwy.211 Business)
     at Northcott Drive
   Luray, Virginia, USA
   LL: N 38.66354, W 78.47888

Site locator map

*Carillonist:

   Jason Perry
   E: jperry/@/wcps.k12.va DOTus

   1937-84  Charles T. Chapman   (1904-86)
   1984-2013 David W. Breneman   (A)
   2014-2020 Jesse Ratcliffe   (C)

*Contact:

   Lowell B. Baughan, President
   Luray Park Association, Inc.
   P.O.Box 151
   Luray, VA  22835
   T: 540-743-6493
   E: lbbaia@embarqmail.com
   - or -
   Luray Singing Tower
   Northcott Drive
   Luray, VA  22835
   T: 540-742-7273
   E: luraytower@gmail.com
   - or -
   Webform @ luraysingingtower.com
   - or -
   Luray Caverns
   970 US Highway 211 W
   Luray, VA  22835
   T: 540-743-6551

*Schedule:

   Currently silent; normally
   Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun, 8 pm, Jun-Aug;
   Sat, Sun, 2 pm, Apr-May & Sep-Oct.

*Remarks:

   Renovated by Taylor, 1991-92.

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 47 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is A  in the bass octave
   Keyboard range:     C C   /    C D#26
   Transposition is down 3 semitone(s), i.e., from C to A 
   There are two missing bass semitones
   There is a practice console
   The whole instrument was installed in 1937
     with bells made by Taylor       
   No auxiliary mechanisms known
   Tower details: 
     Height of console:                 20 meters above ground
     Height of lowest level of bells:   24 meters above ground
     Height of highest level of bells:  28 meters above ground
     Belfry openness:  70%
   Year of latest technical information source is 1970

The Website of the tower has not been updated since early 2018, and does not comply with HTML standards.  But it does have a very good page about planned renovations, as well as a video (3:24) of both the exterior and the interior of the tower.

A waymarking page has 3 photos of the tower.

An old B/W photo of the tower

The Luray Caverns Website now has no information about the tower.

Where this work lies in the sequence of output of the Taylor bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all North American traditional carillons by weight.
Ranking among all North American traditional carillons by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all North American concert class carillons by year of completion.

Other concert carillons with similar keyboard ranges.

Index to all traditional carillons in VA.

Index to all tower bell instruments in VA.

   This page was built from the database on 14-Oct-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2024/09/19
   and on technical data last updated on 1992/05/09