Readsboro's Old Gravestone Preservation Project
This project was started in 2010 and supported by the town and a two man part-time team. The dedicated team consists of our sexton, Tom Maroni, and assistant sexton, Joel Hicks. To date, we have restored 631 gravestones in four cemeteries. These were all the old soft marble and slate type stones. These stones were fallen, broken or severely leaning. These gravestones had no family to care for them so the Cemetery Commission took on the challenge. The older sections of our cemeteries were looking very bad. The restoration consisted of a new concrete foundation, epoxy repairs of broken pieces, cleaning of fungus-algae, and setting stones on new foundations. This is hard, backbreaking work that requires much patience and tenacity. We have had great support from everyone in town and many praises from people visiting our cemeteries from out of town.
Here are a few of the many pictures we
have taken documenting our work.
I hope these pictures will give you a feel for
the complexity and difficulty of this project.
Don’t be intimidated by the scope of work
you may see when you look around your
cemeteries. Divide it into yearly projects and
move forward. Completion of an old section of
your cemetery is hard work, but very rewarding.
The Readsboro Cemetery Commission
Forrest Hicks: Chairperson
