Background

Join Joni to learn about Appalachian burial history and customs as well as how to identify, document, clean, and repair gravestones during this hands-on West Virginia Cemetery Documentation & Preservation Workshop Series. The 2024 series is funded in part by a West Virginia Humanities Council Grant and taught by the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia's 'Preserve WV AmeriCorps' member, Joni.

This project aims to increase the number of West Virginians who have the knowledge to locate & document cemeteries as well as increase the number of West Virginia cemeteries that have been GPS located and digitally documented, making this information more publicly accessible for families, researchers and genealogists.

Workshop Schedule

9:00-12:30 Classroom portion at Highland Avenue Methodist Church Social Hall.

Highland Avenue Methodist Church Social Hall, 204 Highland Ave., Fairmont, WV 26554

This is a full day workshop starting at 9:00 am. In the classroom portion, students can look forward to learning:

• Appalachian burial/funerary history, culture and beliefs 
• Historical context of cemetery/burial ground we are using for fieldwork & why it's important
• Digital documentation of a cemetery using two different mobile application/websites (BillionGravesⓇ  & Find a GraveⓇ)
• Do’s & Don’ts when taking pictures of gravestones/markers
• Basic gravestone/marker style identification (Military, obelisk, etc.)
• How to safely read “unreadable” stones-methods of reading worn stones
• Basic identification of traditional cemetery vegetation & significance 
• Basic identification of gravestone/marker  material types (i.e. marble, sandstone, slate, bronze, limestone, granite), 
• Monument condition and risk assessment
• Preparation of WV State Cemetery Inventory
• West Virginia State Cemetery Codes and applicability to various situations
• Gravestone conservation and cleaning

12:30-1:30 Lunch (provided)

1:30-5:30 Fieldwork at cemetery

Jones Cemetery, End of Liberty Avenue, Fairmont, WV (in Bellvue)

In the hands-on field experience portion of the workshop, students will:

• Learn stone iconography/epitaphs and their meanings

• Learn how to use various digital applications to document graves in the field and do any troubleshooting 

• Experience taking gravestone pictures,  adding photos to memorials, mapping with GPS, adding memorials and corresponding information to mobile app, etc

• Identify different styles of markers/monuments in the cemetery

• Identify different types of traditional vegetation

• Identify types of stones, if it is safe to clean them & methodology

• “Adopt” a gravestone and clean it with D2 

• Utilize two different methods to read “unreadable” stones  (mirror & D2)

• Experience Hands-on cemetery and gravestone preservation work

Please wear closed-toed shoes or boots and clothes you don’t mind getting dirty. Most of the fieldwork is hands-on.  You may bring work gloves if you have them. Nitrile gloves, brushes, D/2 and other materials etc. will be provided. You may also want to bring bug spray, sunscreen and a hat. 

Contact Joni Morris at [email protected] or 304-841-1510 with questions.

Sponsors:

Linda Rutherford & the Highland Avenue Methodist Church