Cemetery Restoration Workshop

The Boone County, Indiana, Pioneer Cemetery Restoration Project will sponsor a Gravestone Restoration Workshop on October 24th at Thorntown Old Cemetery at 400 North Pearl Street (across from the fire station). Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. Registration for the workshop is limited to 20 people. The cost is $15.00 and includes a manual and a stone resetting mortar kit. Please call to register at 765-436-7151 by Saturday, October 17th, make checks payable to Larry Truitt.

Larry Truitt, the coordinator of the Boone County, Indiana, Pioneer Cemetery Restoration Project, will be conducting the workshop (see http://www.rootsweb.ancstry.com/~inpcrp/ for more information). He'll discuss various kinds of stones, why they decay or get broken, and an overview of how to repair them, followed by instruction in the most common gravestone preservation techniques. The workshop will cover safety equipment, site cleaning equipment, stone cleaning supplies, stone repairing supplies, resetting stones, mortar mixes, leveling stones, resetting bases, and using a hoist. Included is a hands-on section where participants can apply the workshop information to actual stones. Cemetery caretakers will learn effective, hands-on skills for doing simple repair and resetting of tombstones in their own cemeteries.

Truitt is the founder of the Boone County Genealogical Society, a member of the Indiana Historical Society, Association of Grave Studies, Thorntown Historical Society, and Indiana Pioneer Cemetery Restoration Project. Truitt has been doing restoration projects in Sugar Creek Township for the past two years .Some of the projects can be seen at: http://www.tinyurl.com/y9lvbta. Service organizations needing a project are encouraged to consider a restoration project. Please contact Larry Truitt at 765-436-7151 or email him at larry@truitt.com.

You are encouraged to go to both websites (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~inpcrp/ and http://www.tinyurl.com/y9lvbta) if you plan on attending the workshop.