SOAL is co-hosting a SPECIAL GUEST Cemetery Restoration Workshop at Lincoln Cemetery! This is a great opportunity for those of you in the South Central PA region and beyond!!! Marc Ormerod, of Monument Preservation & Restoration (based in Connecticut), will be coming out to Lincoln Cemetery Harrisburg to offer a full-day cemetery restoration workshop to benefit SOAL: SavingOurAncestorsLegacy‘s work.

We first met Marc Ormerod a year ago when he showed up for our 2022 March Restoration Weekend! He returned with his brother Russell for Juneteenth weekend. The lessons we have learned from them pretty much taught us everything we know about how to restore a historic cemetery! This is an invaluable opportunity for everyone to learn proper methods for cemetery restoration!

March 18, 2023 (Rain Date: March 19th) Register on Facebook to Participate in this Cemetery Restoration Workshop!

About Your Workshop Leader: Marc Ormerod

Mayflower descendant research found me in many graveyards and cemeteries over the years. After finding so many monuments, especially veterans markers, broken and in neglect, I wanted to do something to help. I started by attending a preservation workshop hosted by the National Park Service in 2009 to learn how to properly clean and reset veteran markers. I have attended many preservation workshops since then, some hosted by Jonathan Appell of Atlas Preservation where many preservation repair methods, processes and techniques were learned.

I have also worked with Jon Appell on many projects in historical old burying grounds, graveyards and cemeteries around Connecticut and Massachusetts. Other projects included raising the fallen mausoleum of the collapsed Trabue Family Vault in Frankfort, Kentucky, also parging and repointing the masonry barrel vault and rebuilding the supporting masonry walls. You can follow the progression of that work on Monument Preservation FB page @mprpllc.

Possessing the experience of a tool & die machinist, carpenter, mason, plumber, auto mechanic, baker, amateur geologist and fixer of almost anything, has helped to make the transition into preservation work seem natural. Besides working on veteran markers, some of the most rewarding but very challenging work, I find, is preserving 17th – 19th century brownstone monuments quarried from the Connecticut River Valley. These stones present many challenges including: multi-layer spalling, caused by washout of a softer material, usually clay; calving the face of the stone and causing erosion from within. Some of the preservation work on these stones from 2022 work can be viewed at FB page @mprpllc.

Other services performed by Monument Preservation and Restoration include repairing, resetting or re-stacking all types of stone monuments, headstones, statues, obelisks, mausoleums and columbarium. Other services include historic masonry re-pointing and restoration using lime mortars. (from Marc’s LinkedIn Profile).