News

Jonathan Appell conducts gravestone preservation workshop

By linda g Kramer

July 14, 2009, 5:00PM

Most people visit a cemetery to mourn for a loved one or friend, but few people really think about the condition of cemeteries. For Jonathan Appell, a cemetery's condition is very important.

Appell owns the New England Cemetery Service, a gravestone monument and preservation company. He travels across the nation helping cities preserve their cemeteries. He will come to the Adams Street Cemetery in Berea from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 18 and 19 to conduct a workshop on gravestone preservation.

Indira Gesink, chair of the Baldwin-Wallace College History Department, which is sponsoring the workshop, said she has been working with students to restore and preserve the Adams Street Cemetery.

"One of the students who was working on the project graduated and put us in contact with Mr. Appell," Gesink said. She added those who attend the workshop do not have to have experience with preserving cemeteries.

"He will be covering topics for an inexperienced audience, so anyone in the community who has an interest in cemeteries can come," Gesink said.

Appell's first experience working with gravestones was in the mid-1980s when he was a monument installer.

"After a while, I began getting calls from people about vandalism or older monuments in need of repair, so I started working on that," Appell said.

He noticed some older gravestones were made of softer materials and required more knowledge to fix. After learning more about gravestone preservation, he stopped installing new gravestones and focused entirely on the old.

Appell said it's important to preserve gravestones for safety reasons, as older monuments could begin lean and fall over. He said there are also historic reasons to preserve the gravestones.

"They are often the only record of people's lives and genealogy," Appell said.

Gesink said she hopes the workshop will make members of the community realize how important it is to keep cemeteries in good shape.

"People don't realize it, but the appearance of a community's cemeteries reflects on its dedication to history," she said.

The workshop will cover the types of monuments, problems people might encounter while doing gravestone preservation work, the best materials to use for gravestone preservation, how to clean marble, sandstone and cement tombstones, how to repair broken marble and sandstone tombstones, how to re-level grave markers, acid rain damage and how to prevent it, and hands-on experience with cleaning and repairs.

The cost of the workshop is $50 per person, though the cost is only $25 for students. There is no charge to attend the workshop for employees of the Berea Historical Society and the City of Berea or members of American Legion Post 91. Registration is required in advance. To get a registration form, e-mail Gesink at igesink@bw.edu.

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