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Restoration Guidelines:
Before attempting to clean a headstone on your own, please contact the town off or cemetery trustee
DO NOT USE BLEACH. The salts in bleach will eat away at the stone resulting in an erosion called "sugaring". Bleach will also cause an undesirable discoloration.
Never attempt to clean a stone that appears to be distressed. This is indicated by cracks, flaking, scaling, or a "sugary" (granular) surface. Tap the stone gently to make sure there are no internal hollow areas. If the stone has been repaired, do not attempt to clean it. If you can move the stone in any way, do not attempt to clean it. If you have any doubt about the stone's ability to withstand the cleaning procedure, don't attempt it.
Do not use metal scrapers, metal bristle brushes or any metal tools.
Soft non-metallic scrub brushes, plastic scrappers, sprayer and water are the essentials.
Wet the headstone with water from the sprayer.
Start at the bottom and work your way to the top to avoid streaks.
Scrap and scrub the surface gently in a circular motion, then rinse. You may need to repeat this.
Record the persons name on the headstone and any inscriptions and report your work to the cemetery trustees via email cemeterytrustee@dunbartonnh.org . We record the inscriptions in our database so that they are not forever lost as time and environmental conditions wear on the headstones.
Tools for the job.
In 2023 the Cemetery Trustees hosted a workshop led by NH Old Graves Association (NHOGA) on how to properly clean headstones. Attendees learned the "Do's and Don'ts" of the gravestone cleaning process. They were provided information about the proper tools to use, the steps involved and the technique to clean a headstone. This was a hands on workshop, so participants went to work cleaning this large marble headstone. This headstone belongs to Sarah A Doubleday, wife of Chester P Doubleday. Sarah passed away June 16, 1854 at the young age of 27 years and 5 months.
One afternoon in 2023 while evaluating the erosion issue at East Dunbarton Cemetery the Cemetery Trustees found part of a headstone buried in the dirt. Carefully the partial stone was recovered from the dirt,
This piece of stone having been in the ground for so long had its impact on it. As the stone was being placed against the upright stone so it could dry out, it broke in half due to an effect called sugaring where the salts eat away at the stone.
The stone was repaired. Unfortunately it can never be joined with the upright portion of the stone. Large portions of the stone are still missing.
Anna Woodbury - Died on 12/4/1884 at the age of 87. She is buried on the hill at East Dunbarton Cemetery. As we placed Anna's repaired stone on the gravel bed a stone appeared. We like to think of it as her way of saying "Thank You".
In 2024 we received a request from the 6th grade students stating they were interested in doing some work in the cemetery closest to the school as part of their "Give Back Day". We accepted their offer and assembled a workshop with them for June 13. Two of our Cemetery Trustees met with the students in two separate groups. We provided the students with the basic do's and don'ts on cleaning headstones, safety measures and proper tools to use. We then did a quick demo on cleaning the headstone. The students were amazed when we washed the area down wanted to go to work.
Our intent was to get the younger generation interested in preserving our cemeteries. As a bonus we get some headstones cleaned. These students had a great time and didn't want to leave, but we had to get the second group in as well. The pictures above represent one of the headstones the students worked on. We had one group work on two of the sides and when the second group came in we had them do the other two sides. The headstones we selected for cleaning were mostly near the main road so the students would be able to see the work they had done improve over the next few months. In total these students cleaned 11 headstones. Thank you 2024 6th grade!
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