'History you can put your hands on': Work underway at Old Protestant Burying Ground

A Nova Scotia stonemason is hoping to breathe new life into the Old Protestant BuryingGroundin Charlottetown.

Heather Lawson specializesin restoration, and this week she's conducting a stone by stone analysis of the site.

"These old burying grounds are living history," said Lawson. "It's actually history you can put your hands on."

Her work involves recording the condition of each stone, taking photographs and noting past interventions, then determining what work could be done to improve or recover it along withhow urgently that work should be be completed.

Lawson was brought in by the board for the Old Protestant BuryingGrounds. Member Audrey Stewart says thanks to fundraising efforts, there's money to do the work but they want to do it right.

"The whole cleaning and restoration process is more involved than simply taking a brush and taking away the old moss," said Stewart.

'A story to be told here'

She said many of the gravestones are damaged from acid rain, trees in the cemetery, and gravel from area snow blowers.

The site closed in 1874, and years of neglect left many original burial markers missing or damaged. In recent years the board has put in a lot of time and effort to improve and maintain the site, which is why the group decided to bring in a professional to oversee the work.

"It's a fascinating era and the board hopes that with some restoration work with Heather Lawson, that we will be able to maintain this very special area," said Stewart.

"There's a story to be told here, and it would be a shame to lose it through neglect."

Good maintenance, less vandalism

Lawson will spend several days collecting data, and estimates it could take a month or more to prepare the full assessment and a potential plan for the site.

She said too often, restoration efforts don't include maintenance.

"That happens with a lot of burial grounds, they'll have a big restoration program, but they don't have a follow-up maintenance program," said Lawson.

"If the repair that they did failed, the stone is back on the ground and stays back on the ground until the next restoration program. I always encourage people if you're going to do a restoration program, you definitely have to have a maintenance program to follow behind."

Lawson said old burial grounds that are well-maintained tend to see less vandalism, and more respect from the community.

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