WHITMAN – Who can and should care for and clean old headstones at historic site such as Whitman’s Mount Zion Cemetery?
Whitman resident Leslie DiOrio has asked the Select Board on Tuesday, Aug.1 for official permission to do that work at Mount Zion. The Board granted DiOrio’s request for official permission.
She had pointed out Mount Zion qualifies as a National Historic Site, due to the date on the oldest stone there – February 1733.
“As a result, we can, as a town, obtain funding through the state of Massachusetts and Community Preservation funding for the upkeep of the cemetery, the stones and some of the groundwork,” she said.
She shared with the Select Board on Tuesday, Aug. 1 a copy of a letter she had sent to the Department of Public Works in May outlining her request for formal permission to clean the stones at Mount Zion, which is not far from her residence.
She also advocated a Cemetery Committee for Mount Zion, since it is the only cemetery in Whitman that does not have one.
According to the National Park Service’s website, “Soiling and staining of cemetery gravestones, monuments, markers, and statuary can result from soil splashing, pollution, rusting bolts or other metal features, bird deposits, and berries or sap dropping onto the stone. Biological growth, such as algae, lichen, or moss, can cover the surface, cause the stone to decay, and make reading the stone difficult.”
“The reason I feel strongly that a person should ask the town for permission, and I’m coming to you for permission, is that a lot of damage can be done by just walking in and cleaning with any substance and not knowing what you’re doing,” DiOrio said.
She has sought out the specialized training involved, she said, including attending lots of seminars and work cleaning historic stones in every New England state.
“This is something that I care deeply about, and as I clean these stones, I actually keep a family tree, and go on familysearch.org, which is a free website with a universal tree,” she said. “I have created documentation and pulled the official document for all the residents of that cemetery.”
She offered to take interested officials with her on Friday. Aug. 4 for the next work she planned to do.
Select Board member Justin Evans asked whether there is a level of training they should look for if anyone else came forward to seek permission to clean historic gravestones.
“You never want to hear they are planning to use soap or bleach or any kind of metal brush,” she said. Biologically-based cleaners are used on historic gravestones and markers.
DiOrio suggested asking about techniques and materials they planned to use, noting she has been asked those very questions every time she has sought permission to clean stones.
Board Vice Chair Dan Salvucci asked about liability, but DiOrio said that should not be a concern unless stones were being moved or renovated.
She told the Select Board that she has been cleaning the stones for about a year, having first broached the topic with the late Marie Lailer of the Historic Commission.
Lailer learned that the DPW maintains cemetery grounds, but not the headstones.
“I didn’t receive a response to this, but they did cover it in one of their board meetings,” she said.
DiORio also provided the Select Board with a copy of Terra Firma, a state document which informs about best practices in historic cemetery care.
“The reason I didn’t receive a response [from the DPW Commission] was that they felt that while they were not going to ‘get in my way,’ and were willing to allow me to continue the work there, they were not willing to give anyone ‘official permission,’” she said.
DiOrio’s said her understanding about the DPW Commissioners’ meeting was that headstone care should be families that give permission.
“The challenge with that is, it doesn’t follow best practices in cemetery care,” she said, emphasizing that is not meant to be criticism of the DPW. “But, when you talk about cemetery care and who grants permission, it really is the grounds of the cemetery, which is the town of Whitman in this case.”
Mount Zion is owned by the town of Whitman. Previously a family burial site, it was procured by the town in 1851.
“When you talk about families giving permission, it is down to the third generation,” she said. “For example, I can clean my great-grandmother’s stone, but not my great-great-grandmother’s stone.”
Her family is buried in Mount Hope in Boston, where DiOrio said she couldn’t just walk in and clean a stone, because it is a maintained, private cemetery in that case. Since Whitman owns Mount Zion, she needs town permission to care for stones there.
Historic Commission Chair Molly Schnabel said she agreed with everything DiOrio said, except for one thing.
“The state has the money for preservation and she’s right about these cemeteries,” Schnabel said. “We have money already.”
The Commission has $20,000 through the Community Preservation Act (CPA) and is seeking matching grants from the state.
“This cemetery should be on that group we’re looking to do,” she said. Once matching grants are obtained, they can hire state-approved workers come in and, while they don’t do stone preservation work, she said DiOrio’s idea is a good one, adding that the number of GAR stones [Grand Army of the Republic, the veterans’ organization of Union Army veterans after the Civil War] is remarkable, and that even though the town does not have a GAR building, its Civil War era history is remarkably well preserved.
“But it needs to be discussed, I think, with the historic commission,” Schnabel said of the stone project. “If you want to work with us on [the grant] that would be great.”
DiOrio said she is not applying for grant money.
Schnabel added there are three cemeteries in town that need to be watched, including one on Pine Street as well as Colebrook and Mount Zion.
“You can see some of the work [at Mount Zion] that Marie and I started and I’ve been continuing,” DiOrio said.