Crawford township to restore cemeteries

The three cemeteries in and around Crawfordsville will be restored over the next few weeks. Crawford Township won a Riverboat Foundation grant of $10,000 to restore the three cemeteries, two of which are on the west edge of Crawfordsville and one of which is a few miles southeast of town.

Rick Fulton is a Crawford Township trustee along with Randy Finke and Jack Erwin. He said the restoration of the cemeteries will consist mostly of straightening the stones that are leaning and fixing them to their foundations.

Fulton walked around the western most cemetery in Crawfordsville on Monday. That cemetery is active and continues to receive new headstones. He pointed out that several of the stones are no longer perfectly straight. In fact, he?s worried that some of them, especially the tall ones, are a safety hazard. Not only that, but the adhesive that holds the stones to their foundations has deteriorated over time. Fulton said he is worried that little kids will get hurt if a stone tips over when they push on it.

?These stones might have had a lead base,? said Fulton. ?Over time, the hypoxi has degraded. Because of the freezing and thawing, the stones slide off their base. These last two or three years they?ve really settled a lot.?

Fulton noted that many of the stones in the western cemetery date from the 1800s. He said there may be no one in town who continues to visit the headstone and so the degradation is not noticed as much.

?This one here died in 1891,? said Fulton, pointing to a headstone. ?They?ve been gone a long time. And we know people are tight on money. The stones that are a danger are some of these tall ones. We decided as township trustees that we?ve got to fix these. They are leaning, and we think that is a danger.?

Crawford Township will use the Riverboat grant to hire a restoration firm. That firm?s workers will take apart the headstones that are loose. They will solidify the base and ensure that it is level. Then they will put new adhesive on the stone wherever it is needed.

Fulton remembers when his daughter took a class on Iowa history from former Washington Junior High instructor Mike Zahs.

?Their class went to the cemetery often,? said Fulton. ?Mike would explain the meaning of the roses and the oak branches on the headstones.?

Fulton said that he also remembers an interesting thought that he heard from Zahs, which is that a cemetery is not for people who died, it?s for people who lived.

Fulton has been a trustee for six years. He said the cemetery has long had a problem with leaning stones, but it did not become pronounced until recently.

?Because of all the rain we?ve had the past couple of years, we noticed how they were settling. They were probably leaning a little bit before and it?s gotten progressively worse.?

Fulton said that it is surprising to see a stone move so much that has been on the ground for a century.

?You would think it would be packed down,? he said. ?But I suppose the water realigns it and causes it to settle.?

Fulton said most of the problems are with the old stones. The old stones are among the tallest stones, and he suspects that the base was not laid as well years ago as it is today.

?The old ones have so much character,? said Fulton.

Some of the old stones have what appears to be an urn at the top of the stone. It?s not a real urn, but simply part of the stone that is made to look like one.

The day that the western cemetery receives the most visitors is unquestionably Memorial Day.

?On Memorial Day, the Legion puts up flags and it?s gorgeous,? said Fulton. ?There will be as many as 100 people who come to the Memorial Day Service. Because this cemetery is used so much, we really want to get this beautified and made safer.?

The Crawfordsville American Legion ? Schantz/Mitchell Post ? puts up 75 flags in the western cemetery for Memorial Day. Fulton said it is a ?stunning sight.? The service this year is Monday morning at 10 a.m. In case of rain, the service will be at the Legion Hall.