Group looks to repair 19th-century headstones
The town is being asked to aid the Operation Save a Grave initiative to restore headstones, some nearly two centuries old, that have fallen into disrepair.
Town Cemetery Committee Chairwoman Suzanne Kelly told the Town Board on Monday that about 100 headstones need to be restored and reset.
“Many of these are over 100 years old, and so many families have died out,” she said. “To begin these repairs, we’ve been raising money.”
Kelly said town assistance is needed because the Rhinebeck Cemetery, which was previously owned by an association, is now municipally owned.
Kelly said after the board meeting that the scope of repairs will be limited because of the cost.
“We’re only talking about ... fixing 10 per year, but it will be an ongoing project that we’ll do every year,” she said.
“We’re really talking about broken gravestones, where we’ll be gluing them back together or bracing them back together or putting them back on their foundations,” Kelly said. “It’s not re-etching.”
Gravestones proposed to be repaired this year include those of Deborah Quick, from 1843; Charles Quick (1833); Peters Quick (1861); Sofia Thompson (1839); John William Quick (1839); Michael Sandford (1837); Mary Evelina (1843); and Mary Miller (1881).
“These are really historic stones of weathered marble and slate,” Kelly said.