The earlier we are involved, the better.
Has your cemetery been vandalized?
By the time you’re reading this, the police investigation is probably well underway, you’ve received countless offers from the community to help upright the stones, and wondered if your insurance will help cover the damage.
So what next? It’s time to start documenting the damage. You can complete the Cemetery Vandalism Damage Report form we’ve created for you, creating a detailed list of the affected gravestones, and taking multiple photos of each. You can also enlist the services of a conservator to prepare a formal damage assessment as this will be critical in the later conservation work.
But what about the community? They see broken and damaged gravestones and want to help stand them up, or a local monument company has offered assistance.
We have found in our experience that well-meaning community members do more damage than the benefit received.
Inexperienced in historic conservation but well-meaning generally means low-quality work done with inappropriate products that do just as much damage to the stone as the original vandalism. The best practice is to divert the volunteer energy to other parts of the cemetery; trash removal, raking, removal of vines, and dead branch cleanup, are all options.