An initiative to restore the historic cemeteries in the town is being put into action by the Lynnfield Historical Commission, which plans to use technology to survey the cemetery grounds to find any missing pieces of the centuries-old headstones.
The project, led by Historical Commission Member Abigail Kilgore, will prioritize the oldest and most in-need graveyards first, including the Old Burying Ground and the South Burying Ground, which are both older than America itself.
“Many of the oldest headstones are only three to five inches thick and will often start to fall over time,” Kilgore. “So, our focus now is not on the headstones that have already fallen over but the ones that are leaning over and are on the verge of toppling.
Not only does this pose a safety risk for any children in these cemeteries that a collapsing headstone could hurt, but it means many of the headstones are getting chipped and have lost parts.
Over two centuries later, the Lynnfield Historical Commission is left with having to hunt for the broken pieces using tools like ground penetrating radar and drone imaging to find their locations.
To that end, Kilgore plans to send out a bid for companies who can do the land surveys and restore the cemeteries following a previous attempt to get a bid that was unsuccessful due to misunderstandings on what the project actually calls for.
“What we really want is not just to repair these stones, but to future-proof them to survive for a long time,” Kilgore said. “This way, we’re honoring the people buried in the cemeteries and preserving the town’s history.”
A state grant of $25,000 was approved this past summer after Kilgore and the Chair of the Historical Commission, Kirk Mansfield, spoke with Rep. Bradley Jones Jr. regarding the historic cemeteries in need of restoration.
Another funding opportunity could present itself when a survey is done in the West Burying Ground, as the register for the land says there’s a specific area for people of color, something that can be confirmed through technology and would be historically significant.
“There’s a lot of work we can do with ground penetrating radar to see if there are people of color buried here,” Kilgore said. “We could then get federal funding to do more exploration and try to identify who these people are… That would be something we should be aware of.”
While all of this work would be part of a years-long process to repair and preserve Lynnfield’s cemeteries, the commission has already gotten feedback from the community that indicates how important these historic landmarks are to the town.
For the future, Kilgore hopes to train and open up opportunities to clean headstones for high school students, scout troops, or anybody else interested in helping out with keeping a part of Lynnfield’s history preserved.