ACPA - Alabama Cemetery Restoration

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Too Many Pieces? What to Do?

by Camille Agricola Bowman,
Technical Preservation Coordinator,
Alabama Historical Commission

When your grave marker is broken into too many pieces to repair with dowels, what should you do? You have several choices, and it all depends on the situation, your means, your needs, and the needs of the grave marker. First of all, ask yourself what you are trying to achieve. If you want a clean and new-looking marker, then you can pursue replication of the original marker in similar materials and work. I would recommend, however, that you keep the original pieces in situ underneath the new marker, thus preserving the original artifacts in place alongside the buried person. The original stone pieces may deteriorate over time, but at least they remain at the original site for which they were intended. I would never encourage anyone to remove a marker to another location unless, of course, the pieces were an extremely important museum piece. Then, it belongs in a museum location in a properly conserved environment, while the site is marked with a new marker.

Remember that "preservation in place" is a viable preservation alternative. When left in place, the history of the marker remains at the burial site, the story of the vandalism or damage is told right there, and the burial remains marked (albeit damaged and certainly not an "original" treatment). As soon as the marker is removed, of course, future generations cannot possibly know who was buried at that site or even if it was a burial site. Leave the broken marker in place until you are sure of the appropriate treatment that will be used to conserve or preserve it. Don't lay the pieces in cement, however. The dissimilar materials (stone and cement) will cause the stone to deteriorate rapidly. I have heard of laying pieces of stone in pea gravel that has a wooden frame built around it. In this way, the site is marked, protected from a lawnmower, and the marker is preserved in place.

If the broken marker cannot be repaired with stainless steel dowels, one may try lime adhesives. Contact http://www.virginialimeworks.com for more information about such adhesives. Lime is softer than the material that it is binding; it breathes; it allows moisture to pass through the crack; and it is self-healing. It may bind the broken pieces of stone together for a little while longer. It is NOT original stone, however, and cannot be expected to last another hundred years. Furthermore, it may not have the strength to keep the marker intact structurally. Again, it depends on the situation. Never try to glue pieces together with cement, car repair putty, or corrosive iron rods. These cause further deterioration of the stone -- whether by thermal expansion and contraction or by displacement by crystallized salts, rust and corrosion.

Folks often seek a "shiny new" look to their ancestors' burial site, and they can cause major irreversible damage with this approach. Certainly, any intervention should be approved in advance by someone knowledgeable about conservation and deterioration of stone. There are no easy answers, quick cures, or "pat" answers for every situation.

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