Gravestone Conservation - Training and Workshops
Upcoming Workshops
: Past Workshops
There are very few opportunities to gain knowledge and acquire
training regarding gravestone and monument conservation. The workshops
which are available may be located at a considerable distance away.
This makes it cost prohibitive for most groups, and limits the attendance
to one or maybe two members. Most workshops will overview a few
basic technique, but may not include the specific answers needed
to get started or effectively plan a preservation project in your
town or cemetery.
I can come to your cemetery or graveyard and effectively quip,
train and mobilize your staff or group of volunteers to perform
basic preservation procedures. I will use your local burying ground,
to demonstrate and perform treatments, for all of the most common
gravestone and monument preservation dilemmas, including cleaning,
resetting tilted stones and rejoining fractured tablet stones which
are so common throughout many parts of America.
I encourage photographing, taping, or filming important steps and
procedures to provide a reference for future training or review.
More advanced skills and techniques can also be overviewed or instructed,
if the need exists, and time allows.
In the process of training your local group we will actually be
restoring your local cemetery. Each stone we fix will diminish the
future number of gravestones or monuments remaining to be conserved.
If you are unable or not ready to actually begin the preservation
procedures, we can survey the grounds and plan for your future preservation
project. I also provide training to enable your local group to survey
the markers and monuments and learn to perform a accurate individual
stone assessment. This is of paramount importance due to the constant
loss of inscription and degradation of many gravestones. A proper
documentation form including a photograph will allow future generations
to view a gravestone and understand its history even if the actual
stone is destroyed.
For more information or to schedule a gravestone conservation workshop
or training session, you can contact me by using our online
contact form, by email,
or call (860) 558-2785.
Upcoming Gravestone Conservation Workshops
May 2, 2009, Saturday: Gravestone Preservation Workshop
Woodlawn Cemetery: Fairmont, West Virginia
Contact: Gina Wagaman 304-657-1813 or gwagaman@verizon.net
Jon Appell- Gravestone Conservator: www.gravestonepreservation.info
jwappell@gmail.com
Woodlawn
Cemetery will be hosting a one-day, hands-on workshop in gravestone
preservation. On Saturday, May 2, 2009 Mr. Jonathan Appell will
be showing how to repair old gravestones, slow or reverse weather-related
deterioration, and stabilize stones, which have begun to lose
their integrity.
Woodlawn is located in Fairmont, West Virginia in one of the older
neighborhoods. Men and women significant to the history of the state
and the nation are buried here. Among them is Francis Harrison Pierpont,
considered the father of West Virginia, Arteus Brooks Fleming, 8th
governor, and Matthew Mansfield Neely, governor, Congressman and
Senator, the first three state superintendent of schools, over 100
Civil War veterans, both Union and Confederate, as well as judges,
lawyers, merchants, and just plain folks. The cemetery is 42 acres
and over 15,000 graves and is an active burying ground. The cemetery
is 186 years old, and has examples of stones in a variety of listing,
sinking and disrepair. There is also an area in which African-American
gravestones are in very poor condition. Appell will use these stones
to demonstrate various techniques and products to help restore and
maintain these stones.
Fairmont is in north central West Virginia, about 11/2 hours south-southeast
of Pittsburgh, Pa. and about 4 hours from Washington, D.C.
If you are interested in attending the workshop, or have any questions,
please contact Gena Wagaman, superintendent: 304-657-1813 or send
an email to gwagaman@verizon.net.
May
13 - May 16 Wednesday- Saturday: National Genealogical Conference
Raleigh, North Carolina
Visit with Jon Appell in the exhibit hall: http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/
May 23 - May 24 Saturday & Sunday: Preservation of
Stone Sculpture & Gravestones
The Carving Studio & Sculpture Center: West Rutland, Vermont:
& Pleasant Street Cemetery: http://www.carvingstudio.org/
June 25 - June 26 Thursday & Friday The Association
for Gravestone Studies Annual Conference
Vale Cemetery, Schenectady, New York
Basic & Advanced Gravestone Conservation Workshops: http://www.gravestonestudies.org/
July 8 - July 10 Wednesday- Friday: Basic Gravestone Preservation
July 13- July 16 Monday- Thursday: Advanced Gravestone
Preservation
The Campbell Center for Historic Preservation: Mount Carroll,
Illinois
http://www.campbellcenter.org/
August 20 - August 22 Thursday- Saturday: Gravestone Preservation
Workshop: Snow’s College Traditional Building Program:
Ephraim, Utah
http://www.snow.edu/tbsi/class-schedule.html
August 25- August 29 Wednesday- Sunday: IPTW- International
Preservation Trades Workshop
Leadville Colorado
Gravestone Preservation Demonstration. Masonry Preservation and
Stone Restoration Demonstrations & Workshops
http://www.iptw.org/
September 26- September 27 Saturday & Sunday: Preservation
of Stone Sculpture & Gravestones
The Carving Studio & Sculpture Center
West Rutland, Vermont: & Pleasant Street Cemetery
http://www.carvingstudio.org/
