Gravestones at centuries-old cemetery getting fresh look
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Judith Lund points out difficult to decipher lettering on a stone at Joseph Davis Burial Ground. Photos by Sandy Quadros Bowles
An example of the graves needing work.
Stone walls in danger of collapse will be fixed. 
Work on trees and shrubbery will make the Welcome to Dartmouth sign more visible.
Judith Lund points out difficult to decipher lettering on a stone at Joseph Davis Burial Ground. Photos by Sandy Quadros Bowles
An example of the graves needing work.
Stone walls in danger of collapse will be fixed.
Work on trees and shrubbery will make the Welcome to Dartmouth sign more visible.
A town cemetery that dates back to the 1700s is getting a facelift.
Work is ongoing at the Joseph Davis Burial Ground on Faunce Corner Road. The cemetery is home to 202 stones, the vast majority of them hundreds of years old.
Town Meeting members in June agreed to allocate $50,000 to restore the cemetery.
The money was allocated through the Community Preservation Act, which is funded through a surcharge of property taxes. Projects must fall under the categories of affordable housing, open space protection, outdoor recreation or historic preservation, which is what the Davis Cemetery work reflects.
The work is seriously needed, said Judith Lund, a town resident who has written a book on the town’s cemeteries and helped spearhead the Davis Cemetery project, along with UMass Dartmouth professor Paul Bacdayan.
Age and settling have taken their toll on the gravestones, according to the application for the funding.
Sixty nine of the stones on the site have fallen, tilted or cracked, the application states. And all of the stones need cleaning to remove lichens, a form of fungus that grows on rock, and staining that erode and conceal the inscriptions.
“It’s embarrassing,’’ she said as she walked through the cemetery and pointed out stones that are deteriorating and in some cases collapsed. “This is town property. It should look better.’’
The burial ground bears the name of Joseph Davis, who maintained a blacksmith shop under a large tree, at the front of the cemetery, when the roadway was located further from the cemetery wall.
The oldest stone marks the grave of Mary Crowell, who died in 1792. Dartmouth historian Henry B. Worth has said the burial ground once served as the town cemetery. People frequently visit the cemetery for genealogical purposes, Lund said.
TNT Gravestone Solutions of Westport provided the lowest bid for the work. The company, which has restored a number of local cemeteries, uses techniques that clean stones without harming them.
Repair work will also be done to a stone wall at the cemetery that is beginning to collapse. Yellow caution tape marks the spot. “We don’t want anyone climbing on it,’’ Lund said.
Another project at the site was welcome news to the select board. The town will remove a tree and other greenery around the Welcome to Dartmouth sign in front of the cemetery.
The greenery has made the sign difficult to see, Lund said. In good weather, when the tree is in full bloom, “it’s pretty much hidden.’’
Work will likely be done sometime in September, Lund said. The select board supported the efforts at a recent meeting. This work will be done by the town’s Parks and Recreation Department and does not involve community preservation funds
The public is invited to see the work up close and learn more about the project at an open house Saturday Sept. 27 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Lund encouraged people to view the work then and learn more about it.
Representatives from the gravestone cleaners will “explain what they’re doing and make people understand what is safe to do and what is not.’’
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