THOSE WONDERFUL OLD CEMETERIES: WHAT DO WE DO WITH THEM? PART II

By Melanie D. Pratt, Collections Department, Ohio Historical Society

Local History Notebook, May / June 1997

Work at Congress Green Cemetery

Minxie and Jim Fannin are consummate cemetery preservation professionals. What follows is basically a day in my diary when I traveled to North Bend to work with the Fannins during their stints at Congress Green Cemetery in North Bend, Ohio. Upon my arrival the Fannins initiated a coffee/tea/bagel break. Then, after our early morning nosh, we began our task at hand. I sent up a prayer of thanks to a neighbor of the cemetery who graciously gave us bathroom and water rights. Having running water on a cemetery clean-up such as at Congress Green is a necessity. The Fannins had about 150 feet of hose running throughout the work area. I spent most of the day under Minxie's direction washing tombstones, using toothbrushes and soft scrub brushes and lots of water to sluice off the grime of the ages. After washing off each stone with water until it was as clean as we could get it, we then used a non-ionic detergent and washed it one more time. The best detergent that the Fannins have found to use is Photo-flo, from Kodak. It is used in photography and can be purchased at any camera shop.

One other problem encountered at Congress Green was paint on the tombstones. Due to an earlier attempt to clean up the cemetery in the 1960s, a few misguided scouts had painted many of the tombstones with white latex paint. Paint seeped into the porous stones and now cannot be removed. Some of the paint had weathered away over the years, making the stones look as though they have been roosting places for large incontinent raptors.

While the stones were being washed, they were placed on two-by-fours on the ground. In addition to the two-by-fours, at least two buckets were needed, one with clear water for cleaning the stones and the other with the Photo-flo and water mixture (very little Photo-flo is used). We also needed low stools to sit on since the ground was soaking wet by the time we got through washing and rinsing. While sitting, we scrubbed the face and reverse of the stones as well as the sides, top, and bottom. The bottom of the stones received extra treatment, especially if the bottom was broken and was to be reset. The Fannins wanted that area as squeaky-clean as possible. Sometimes this included attempting to break off small chunks of concrete that had adhered to the stone through an earlier attempt at restoration.

Minxie's husband Jim and Gary Claar, the Ohio Historical Society's architect in charge, dug out the bases of the stones to be reset. Once the bases were out of the ground and resting on two-by-fours, Minxie and I washed them. The men then prepared the hole for the clean tombstone. A mixture (one shovelful to one shovelful) of sand and peagravel was deposited into the hole and tamped down until it was level. The base was reset into the hole, using a level to make sure everything was even. If there was no base for the headstone, Jim made a new base from cement for the stone.

Once the base was reset, it was time to epoxy the headstone back on. To do this, Jim drilled two small holes in the base and mirror-drilled holes in the bottom of the stone. He then squeezed Epoxy into the holes and inserted nylon rods into the epoxy. Epoxy was also drizzled heavily onto the top of the base where the stone would rest and the stone was then reset aligning the holes, top and bottom. A level was then used to make sure that everything was uniformly correct. The repaired stone was then braced for up to 24 hours to allow the epoxy to thoroughly dry. Excess epoxy was scraped off the stone immediately to avoid it hardening on the front or back of the stone.

The epoxy used came in two forms. One form was a small two-part plastic container called a Barre-pak that could be used for small, simple repair jobs. The pak could be broken in the middle so the components flowed together making the epoxy. The other form had to be mixed from two different containers and was used for larger jobs. It is important to note that once the epoxy was mixed it had to be used almost immediately as it has a fast set-up period. An individual in Columbus, who works for Columbus Art Memorial, once told me that the stone may finally weather away to nothing-but the epoxy will remain forever! One of the advantages of the epoxy is that it will take on the freeze-thaw cycles of the stone it is adhered to.

Using nylon rods are important for two reasons: they are used on the interior of the stone and are never seen. Attempts at conservation that I have seen in other cemeteries have used iron or brass strips that are attached to the rear of the stone by drilling holes in the exterior and attaching the strips with screws. The result is that in a very short time, the iron rusts and the brass patinas. The iron "bleeds" on the stone with reddish iron oxide and the brass patina turns brown and then dark green, looking as though an errant Vulcan has "bled" all over the stone. As with the biologic growth, these stains seep into the stone and become permanent.

Columbia Cemetery

Well-meaning but clueless "conservators" can cause major problems in cemeteries and these problems are found in Columbia Cemetery in the Cincinnati area. The "conservation/preservation" of Columbia Cemetery was done with the best of intentions, but the results have proven to be less than ideal. The cemetery (also known as Turkey Bottoms) was "conserved/preserved" back in the late 1970s or early 1980s while the Queen City was getting ready to celebrate its 200th anniversary. The cemetery sits on a hill on the east side of Cincinnati, near the Columbia Parkway and Lunkin Airport. Many of the stones were broken and large sections of the stones were missing. In 1986, while visiting Cincinnati to give a lecture for the Ohio Genealogical Society on the glories of old cemeteries, I was informed by several attendees that I had to see Columbia Cemetery. These people were appalled at the restoration work done at the cemetery.

The folks who had done the project seemed to be enamored with the myriad uses of concrete. Unfortunately, concrete and conservation of tombstones should not be used in the same sentence let alone the same cemetery! Concrete has a different freeze-thaw point than most of the stone used in the fashioning of these wonderful old tombstones. The ONLY time concrete can be used is when stones have fallen and are reset in a concrete or cement base. Do NOT, however, use concrete or cement as the "glue" to hold that stone upright in its new base. After only a few years, stone breaks again--at the point where the concrete or cement glue is holding it in its base. In the case of Columbia Cemetery, the pieces of the various tombstones were gathered up, wood forms were made for each tombstone and filled with concrete, and the various segments of each shattered tombstone placed in its relative place within the wet concrete form. When the concrete was dry, the wood forms were removed and the "conserved" stones placed upright in the cemetery.

Superficially, it looks like an old historic cemetery. But the damage has been done and will keep progressing. With the two different freeze-thaw points acting on the stones, the stones will begin to exfoliate. In preparation for this "Notebook," I revisited the Columbia Cemetery and found that deterioration had indeed progressed. Many of the tombstone pieces have begun to exfoliate and larger pieces have broken off at the juncture of concrete and tombstone. Some of these pieces look as though they have been cemented back into place. Cracks have also appeared in the tombstones. One "conserved tombstone" has a dove incised as part of the artwork. Unfortunately, the dove has been positioned in the concrete as though it is divebombing toward Hell instead of soaring toward Heaven!

Other Considerations

Exfoliation--one of the primary causes of exfoliation is the seepage of water into the various layers of stone, freezing and causing the outer layers to flake off. During the 1970s, architects touted the virtues of sealing buildings with silicone and that rapidly traveled to cemetery conservation. Within a few years, architects and preservationists were discovering that the silicone treatment was just as bad as the water seepage. It did not allow the stone to breathe or "bleed" off water already trapped, thus causing severe exfoliation. In my travels through Ohio cemeteries, I have seen cases where exfoliation has destroyed all of the data on the stones EXCEPT the artwork, as well as mere stumps of stones where exfoliation and erosion have combined to destroy the stone. Let me clarify the term "concrete or cement base." I do not mean digging a hole, filling it with concrete and plopping the tombstone in the wet concrete! Instead, a wooden form should be constructed, cement poured into it and a rectangular depression made in the top of the cement with a board (measure the length and breadth of the marker to be reset) into which the stone will rest. This cement base should be allowed to set-up and harden for at least 24 hours. Then, using a Barre-pak of epoxy, the stone is glued by spreading the epoxy in the depression as well as on the bottom of that cleaned stone and the stone is then placed into the depression. The tombstone itself should never come into contact with wet concrete or cement! Use a level to make sure the stone is upright. It will need to be supported or braced until the epoxy dries.

Types of Stone

The most popular types of stone I have seen in Ohio graveyards have been sandstone, limestone, and marble. Toward the end of the 19th century granite began to come into widespread usage. Somewhere in my files I have a Xeroxed page from a 1902 Sears & Roebuck catalog announcing that one could buy a basic granite grave marker for $14.95 + carving of your choice! My personal favorites are the sandstone and limestone. The sandstone exfoliates and weathers away, but because it is a "soft" stone--it is easy to carve. White marble was often used because it is also what I term a "soft" stone. Unfortunately, it is so porous that it begins to erode almost as soon as it is erected in the cemetery. Another type of "stone" is not stone at all, but cast zinc. These markers were not very popular. I have only seen about thirty or so in my twenty-seven years of roaming through cemeteries. One advantage is that they do not erode or exfoliate. I am sure you have all seen one or two. They are a color I refer to as "slate grey-blue." And, they are hollow. Predominantly, they seemed to be used most during the 1870s and early 1880s, but quickly lost popularity for whatever reason.

Tombstone Artwork

One of the joys of traipsing through the older cemeteries is the artwork. Today's cemeteries are run as businesses and, due to progress, much of the unusual tombstone artwork of the past has gone by the wayside.

Our ancestors predominantly had stone markers of the types mentioned above. But I have also seen tile used (in an area of Ohio where tile-making is a major industry). At Zoar, Ohio, there are wooden markers in the old Zoar Cemetery and new wooden markers exist in a potter's field in southern Ohio. These wooden markers were actually paint stir sticks that had been nailed together, painted white with the name and death date of the individual painted on in bright red or blue paint.

The stone carvers could be very inventive. The carvings could be a stylized tree or urn with eternal flame--common motifs found throughout Ohio--or an antique auto carved into granite, denoting a hobby, to thistles carved into the side of the stone denoting place of birth (Scotland, in this case, the thistle being the national flower of that country).

Early tombstones in New England had coffins carved on them symbolizing death. Skeletal heads were very popular, many times seen with the crossed bones that nowadays have become the universal symbol for poison. The skull and crossed bones could also be seen in conjunction with the poem:

As harsh views of God softened, so did the harshness of the carvings. The skull and crossed bones softened to become angels and cherubs. The coffin motif all but disappeared, replaced by the "Willow and Urn" pattern signifying the loss of a loved one and their subsequent resurrection (the urn is usually seen with the eternal flame). The early angels signified a warning to the living that their time was coming. As time went on, the angel evolved into a trumpeting angel that would accompany the soul and announce its arrival in Heaven.

Other symbols include a serpent with its tail in its mouth--an ancient symbol of eternity; a lamb, usually on a child's grave, is the Lamb of God; gates or curtains representing the Gates to Heaven opening to receive the soul of the dear departed, as well as sending the soul to its salvation. The sun, usually seen in quarter phase or half-risen, denotes a soul gone to a better life with God.

Another carving I am particularly fond of is the "Woman in Mourning" motif. It is not common in Ohio, but is usually found on larger stones and the woman has a mourning veil covering her hair. In the Old Colony Burying Ground in Granville, one stone has the mourning woman with her elbow resting on the urn. Because of the way the stone has weathered over the years, the carving appears very whimsical. However, the meaning is not so whimsical. She symbolizes deep grief, and the carving is usually seen on the husband's stone. Other stone carvings include Masonic and Oddfellows symbols, favorite hobbies, vistas, etc.--whatever that particular individual found most fascinating in his or her life. This would be represented on the tombstone.

Final Thoughts

By now you are discovering that conserving a cemetery consists of a great deal more than just clearing out the brush and hoping for the best. This is not a task to be undertaken lightly. You need to look at the cemetery as a complete entity--whether only conserving one or two stones or working on the entire graveyard. Community support, from the local boy scout troop, the township trustees, and everyone in between, cannot be stressed enough. It is an expensive proposition, both in time and money. The results, however, are well worth the efforts.

The Local History Notebook is edited and published by the Ohio Historical Society's Local History Office in order to bring useful information to people working in the local history field. The selection of subjects and authors is based on the OAHSM Editorial Board's and the Local History Office's determination of issues which are timely in nature and lasting in scope. The reprints are copyrighted 1997 by the Ohio Historical Society. Reprints are available individually or as complete sets. For further information, contact:

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