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Digging Up History: How Photo-Flo And Elbow Grease Are Saving New England’S Historic Cemeteries, Edward E. Andrews

History & Classics Faculty Publications

Gravestones seem to be, like the memories of the people they honor, eternally immutable, intransient reminders of the lives, loves, and losses of the past. Even the substance they're made of is a metaphor for durability and permanence. And yet, as any resident of New England knows, soil moves, water erodes, tree limbs fall, frost heaves erupt, sun rays blister, roots expand, and mold advances. Constant attacks from weather, in addition to the mechanization of landscaping, conspire to destroy these stones as they once stood. Ironically, New England's historic cemeteries are dying. Fortunately, a handful of preservationists are laboring to …