SPRUCED UP Livingston Manor’s Orchard Street Cemetery had been showing signs of neglect prior to volunteer efforts to restore it. Diana Fredenburg photo
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By Michelle Adams-Thomas | Manor Ink
Livingston Manor, NY – Manor native Kay Madison Zak was visiting her hometown last year on Memorial Day. While at the Orchard Street Cemetery, she saw workers mowing the cemetery’s lawn run over several graveside veteran flags. This did not sit well with Zak. She decided to do something about the condition of the Orchard Street Cemetery.
“I hooked up with a group called Rediscovering History,” she said.
The founder of Rediscovering History, Michael Carroll, lives in New London, CT. Zak reached out to him, hoping that he would come to Livingston Manor and help clean the graveyard. To her surprise, he agreed, if she could gather a group of volunteers to help. That’s what Zak did.
LABOR OF LOVE Michael Carroll, right, poses with volunteer Lawrence Hunter and a recently cleaned gravestone in a Connecticut graveyard. Provided photo
Guy and Jan Carlson and their granddaughters went in before the crew got there to clean up the fallen branches, worn out bouquets and wreaths. “That made a huge difference,” said Zak. Several others also cleaned up much of the brush.
This reporter was one of those volunteers, helping out by cleaning grave stones.
About 20 local people put in the work to help Carroll’s crew. I was shown how to take care of stones without damaging them, an easy process according to Zak. “To clean the stones, we use a biological solution of D2, an ammonium solvent, that is safe for the environment.” After you spray on D2, it is easy to scrape off lichen, dirt or moss.
Since connecting with Rediscovering History, Zak has put a lot of work into helping Carroll and his crew, “It pays off. It’s getting the community together – it’s just very rewarding,” she said.
Carroll’s group likes to focus on helping preserve the history that a community has. He has put a lot of work into Rediscovering History. “We are a nonprofit organization based in Mansfield Center, CT,” he said. “We’ve been doing this work for about 17 or 18 years now. It’s a way of life, it’s a passion. I do it seven days a week, as long as weather permits.” The organization has grown over the years and with so many people now helping Carroll to clean cemeteries, the group has become something of a community.
BEFORE AND AFTER Using a D2 solution, moss, lichen and stains can be removed from grave markers without damaging the stone. Provided photos
He very much appreciates his community of volunteers and the work they’ve done “It’s not just family or friends, but people we have never even met,” he said. “We are educating each other, it’s really nice.”
But Carroll also cautions those who want to help with this important work, because it is often difficult. “The Internet is not always truthful – sometimes you find time-lapse videos that make the work look like it can be done in a matter of minutes. Ninety-nine percent of the time you have to go back multiple times to complete a clean-up,” he said. He wants everyone to know that it’s not a simple task.
To learn more about Rediscovering History, visit rediscovering-history.com. To see the work they and local volunteers have done, visit the Orchard Street Cemetery in Livingston Manor.