by Lance Mayer

Excerpted from "The Care of Old Cemeteries and Gravestones," Markers I: The Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies

If a gravestone is tilting so that it is in danger of falling over, or if it has already fallen, it should be reset in an upright position. Stones which are tilted or lying flat are more liable to be damaged by lawnmowers. Deterioration may be accelerated because they will collect rainwater and absorb moisture from the ground. The temptation to straighten a tilted stone by force, without digging out the soil around it, must be resisted, for the stone may snap off at the ground line.

Some communities have set stones in concrete to prevent tilting and theft. This has several major disadvantages and probably should not be recommended. A gravestone set in concrete has no "give," and is more likely to snap off at the base if pressure is exerted, maliciously or otherwise. Also, soluble salts in a poor quality cement may migrate up into a porous stone such as sandstone, forming efflorescenses and accelerating deterioration... Better than setting a stone in concrete is placing it in alternate layers of soil and a mixture of sand and broken stone, (1/2" - 3/4" sharp-edged gravel), periodically wetting the earth as it is applied. This base will not prevent theft, but even concrete will not prevent a thief from snapping off and taking the thinner stones.

If a gravestone is broken so that there is insufficient shaft to reset the stone, it might be leaned against the back of another stone; this, however, may invite theft. In the past, important fragments were occasionally encased in granite or concrete, and the new structure set in the ground. A less drastic solution, perhaps more respectful of the integrity of the piece, might be to erect a copy of the stone (identified on the back side as a replica) and place the original indoors for safekeeping.

Documentation of treatment by both written records and photography, before and after treatment, is an important conservation practice. Not only will this document the appearance of a gravestone at a certain time, but it will provide evidence of the efficacy of different types of treatment after weathering and aging.