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Fading Stories In Stone – New England Cemeteries In Need Of Restoration
Early gravestones in the First Parish Burying Ground, Arlington MA
Fading Stories In Stone – New England Cemeteries In Need Of Restoration. An article in Sunday’s Boston Globe, “A Race Against Time To Save History”, about Robert Carlson’s work documenting and restoring gravestones on the Cape caught my eye. I love early cemeteries and the terrible condition of many of them has been on my mind recently. I was happy to learn about Carlson’s efforts and to see the Globe publicizing the desperate need for conservation of New England cemeteries.
Old cemeteries have always fascinated me. As kids we played regularly in the cemetery near the town center in Medfield, Mass. Some of the gravestones dated from the 1600s and I admired the carvings that changed through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries - from the winged skulls, to the more cherubic faces. to the weeping willows. I loved the inscriptions with the bits of people’s history and the beautiful old names.
Each year on Memorial Day we visited another old cemetery in Shirley to plant geraniums. One year as we poked around nearby plots we found a very early wooden grave marker – still the only one I’ve ever seen.
By third grade I was doing genealogy with my grandfather and visited old graveyards in many New England towns with him and my grandmother. Always the stories told on the old slate gravestones were a source of fascination as we hunted for clues about our ancestors.
Bas-relief carving on an Old Burying Ground gravestone in Arlington
The centuries old gravestones had survived the years well. Most were completely legible – the incised words easy to read, the decorations almost as beautiful as the day they were carved. In the 1970s gravestone rubbing was a popular hobby and the markers in local cemeteries were still crisp enough to make fine rubbings.
Imagine my dismay when I revisited my favorite childhood cemetery some twenty years later and found that in that relatively short time the stones had degraded dramatically. Many inscriptions could no longer be read and the carvings were difficult to discern.
It was shocking. How could these markers last two hundred years and then in just a few years be so damaged?
What does it say about our environment? About how polluted the air and water have become in recent years that centuries old stone carvings can be worn away in short order?
I went back to the Medfield cemetery last week and was once again appalled. Lichen covered many of the stones’ surface. Many stones had been broken. Inscriptions, if they can be discerned at all, can only be read with difficulty. Doesn’t anybody care?
The other day I visited the Old Burying Ground in Arlington Center to get photos for this post and was surprised to see gravestones in relatively good condition. Sure – the inscriptions and carvings have been worn down – but the stones were clean and clearly in much better condition than those in Medfield.
Gravestone restoration in Arlington
I was perplexed until I noticed the blue marks on the backs of the gravestones. It seems that someone had restored the markers in the Arlington cemetery. I haven’t been able to find any information about the project – if you have any information it please let me know.
The Old Burying Ground in Arlington is absolutely worth a visit. There’s a wonderful collection of markers and it seems many were done by the same carver. Many of the carvings – particularly those with a child’s head in bas-relief – are very distinctive. The cemetery dates to 1736 and the colonists killed in Arlington on the first day of the American Revolution are buried here.
It’s time to take a page out of Robert Carlson’s book and start an Adopt-A-Cemetery movement. What’s your city or town doing to preserve its cemetery heritage?
Charlie Allen Of Cambridge Featured In Old House Journal
Cambridgeport Mansard Restored by Charlie Allen
Charlie Allen of Cambridge Featured in Old House Journal. The December 2009 issue of Old House Journal is filled with features with a local spin. After I finished with my favorite Remuddling page here’s what I found:
Cambridge contractor, Charlie Allen, writes about a 10-year renovation and restoration of a Second Empire mansard on Kelly Road pictured at right. Charlie Allen Restorations has brought back many houses around Cambridge to their former glory and it’s a real treat to read about the metamorphosis of this house.
An article about a Winchester Queen Anne Victorian details its transformation from a two-family into a single. The house had been covered in aluminum siding and stripped of architectural detail. Not any longer!
Fans of Modernism will enjoy the article by a Lincoln homeowner about the restoration of a Modernist house after a fire.
As always OHJ is packed with useful articles for old house enthusiasts. Others include:
- How to research your house’s history
- Protecting your house from fire
- Repairing plaster walls
- Repairing leaded glass
- The Beaux Arts Style
Want to learn more about your neighbors’ old house experiences? Old House Journal is not to be missed.
Home Remuddling
I’m a big fan of Old House Journal magazine. I think I have every issue ever published – I’ve been buying the magazine for years and completed my set with ebay purchases.
No matter how much I try to resist I can’t help but turn to the last page of the magazine first. It’s OHJ’s “remuddling” feature. Each month they pair a photo of a house, unfortunately renovated into a shadow of its former self, with a photo of another house that looks like the sad sack house would’ve looked before remuddling.
The feature is a guilty pleasure – sure to draw gasps when you see the wrong headed choices that the house’s owners made. Good intentions gone bad – home-renovation style.
Half Remuddled House
This is a photo of a remuddling job and an untouched original all in one. One owner of this house – actually two attached single family homes – remodeled his half-house some decades ago, stripping away all the original ornamentation and covering the house with aluminum siding. The other half-house retains its original trim.
It’s rare that you get to see the before and after impact of siding on a vintage house so clearly. The city would look very different – and much better – if generations of siding salesmen hadn’t made their way through the neighborhoods.
For once, Old House Journal’s remuddling spread this month shows a change for the better – picturing a stripped, siding clad house and its new incarnation with siding removed and trim restored. Happily, houses can be brought back. And the dedicated homeowner’s restoration is a gift to us all.
Celebrate Historic Preservation Month – Ball Square and Davis Square
May is Historic Preservation Month in Somerville. Two events are offered this Sunday, May 17, 2009 in two of my favorite neighborhoods – Ball Square and Davis Square in Somerville Massachusetts.
Walking Tour of Ball Square Somerville
Ed Gordon, President of the New England Chapter of the Victorian Society of America, will lead a tour of the Ball Square and Powderhouse area of Somerville this Sunday. On the From Powder House Pickles to Ball Square Brick Yards walking tour of historic homes and sites you’ll learn about the history of the neighborhood and of Tufts University, see some of the most handsome multi-families built in the area, get to see the inside of a home or two, and finish with light refreshments at the Field House at Nathan Tufts Park.
Cost is $10 ($8 for members of the VSA).
Sunday, May, 17, 2009, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.
Meet at the Field House at Nathan Tufts Park at the corner of Broadway and College Avenue.
History of the Davis Square Branch Library
Architectural conservator, Sara Chase, will give a talk on Sunday afternoon titled A Jewel In the Crown: The West Branch Library. The West Branch Library on College Avenue in Davis Square is a Carnegie Library and 100 years old this year. I love this little library and look forward to learning more about it.
The lecture, tour of the library and light refreshments are free and open to all.
Sunday, May 17, 2009, 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm.
50 College Avenue, Davis Square, Somerville MA.
A vintage postcard of the library in Davis Square in 1909, the year it was built, is below. It looks just about the same today.
Hattie wrote on the back to her friend Gertrude: “Our new library about ten minutes walk from the house. Our cards have been transferred and we now take books from here. It is much smaller than the Somerville library and the collection of books of course is not as good but then the (walking part) is very much better.”
Caring for Your Old or Historic House – Arlington MA Lecture
Did you just buy an old house that needs some TLC? Not sure where to start with projects in your older home and want to do things right? If you’re looking for tips on caring for your antique or vintage home, an upcoming lecture at The Arlington Historical Society is just the ticket.
Sally Zimmerman, Preservation Specialist at Historic New England (formerly SPNEA, the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities) will speak about:
- Tips on retaining the old house details we love
- Period appropriate paint colors
- Resources for old house maintenance, restoration, and enhancement
Resources from these Arlington organizations will also be available:
- The Arlington Preservation Fund, Inc.
- The Arlington Historical Commission
- The Arlington Historic Districts Commission
When: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Where: Arlington Heights Nursery School, 10 Acton Street, rear entrance
Admission: Free!
Seeking Cambridge Historic Preservation Nominations
Each year the Cambridge Historical Commission recognizes preservation projects completed in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts during the previous year. If your historic preservation work was completed between January and December 2008 you can find a nomination form and more information at the Historical Commission’s website.
2008 Award Winner
Cambridge Preservation Recognition Program
Eligible Project Categories:
- Restoration
- Rehabilitation
- Adaptive use
- Neighborhood conservation
- Landscape preservation
- Archaeology
- Education/outreach
Criteria for Awards:
- Historical and architectural significance of the property preserved by the project
- Exceptional quality of the project
- Extent to which the project contributed to the preservation of the property
- Impact of the project on the preservation of the city’s historic resources
Nomination forms must be submitted by noon on February 27, 2009. The 2009 Preservation Awards will be announced at a ceremony on May 21, 2009 as part of National Preservation Month.
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