Remarkable progress update: 74% fencing is restored, obelisk gravestone found, gravesite a mystery & marker upgrade continues

This 3-foot obelisk gravestone found at a dump was for Mrs. Fred Eaton & her baby, dates and gravesite are a mystery.

By Sue Hunter Weir

They”'re back. The 42 sections of steel picket fencing that border the Lake Street side of the cemetery have been straightened, sandblasted, galvanized, repainted and reset. The remaining fifteen sections along Cedar Avenue will be repaired this fall. This project has not been cheap; each section of the fence has cost about $14,000 to repair. The stone pillars still need to be straightened, tuck-pointed and capped to prevent water from dripping down inside the pillars and eroding them from the inside out.

The fence serves many purposes but perhaps none more important than protecting the markers, especially the oldest markers. New markers, with the exception of military markers, are usually made of granite. While they”'re not indestructible, they are considerably more durable that the oldest markers many of which were made of marble. It took a while for transplanted New Englanders to figure it out, but marble is not really hardy enough to withstand the extremes of Minnesota weather.

And the fence is a deterrent to vandals. There hasn”'t been a major episode of vandalism in many years””probably since the 1970s.… Read the rest “Remarkable progress update: 74% fencing is restored, obelisk gravestone found, gravesite a mystery & marker upgrade continues”