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West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
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Giving gravestones a new lease on life |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Sunday, 03 October 2004 |
By JESSICA YORK,
Staff Writer
SHAFTSBURY -- Disclaimer: You never know what's going to happen until you put the first shovel in the ground.
This is what Charles Marchant, 60, tells people before he dives into restoring cemeteries and repairing gravestones across Vermont.
From trimming around gravestones with scissors at age eight for his great uncle, to falling asleep at town meeting only to be nominated as his town's cemetery commissioner as an adult, Marchant has committed over half of his life to cemeteries.
"Little did they know I'd take it seriously," said Marchant of becoming the cemetery commissioner.
On Sunday, the Shaftsbury Historical Society invited Marchant to share his extensive knowledge of cemeteries. Shaftsbury's cemeteries need some attention from the town, the society decided, and a first step in the process was inviting Marchant to give a talk and slide show.
Marchant, a retired high school history teacher of 36 years, now spends his time as a private contractor, giving cemetery presentations and performing restorations. He is the secretary for the Vermont Old Cemeteries Association, and a member of The Association for Gravestone Studies out of Greenfield, Mass. Marchant, who lives in Townshend, also maintains a couple private cemeteries near home.
Marchant outlines the steps he takes in restorations during his presentations.
"Some documents will last longer than the stone," Marchant said Sunday after recommending that all inscriptions be recorded before the stones are touched.
Marchant passed key bits of cemetery restoration knowledge to the group, like the fact that intentional desecration of cemeteries is a Class 1 Felony in Vermont, which can lead to up to $10,000 in fines and jail time; that kids in schools are cemetery restoration's best assets; and that it takes about three to five years for an untouched cemetery to become overgrown.
In terms of repairing "leaners," or stones that are beginning to tip over, Marchant said it was an easy three-person job. All that's needed are a digger, a holder and a "stuffer" to put the stone back in, he said.
Marchant showed a number of do's and don'ts of stone repair in his slide show. He said he was against pouring cement around the base of a stone to hold it up (as opposed to a cement base underneath the stone), using bolts screwed into the stone to repair broken pieces (as opposed to putting a frame around the stone), or covering the stone with fiberglass (moisture can still enter from the ground up.)
Marchant said that Shaftsbury's next step could be one of three options, if they are to continue looking into fixing up their various cemeteries.
Get a consultant, such as Marchant, to suggest a plan, learn how to fix the stones and grounds up themselves after holding a teaching workshop, or hire someone like Marchant to do the work for them.
"Cemetery preservation is more a question of energy than money," Marchant said after explaining the low cost of one of his stone fixes.
http://www.benningtonbanner.com/Stories/0,1413,104~8676~2429490,00.html |
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