Cemetery Restoration
For the second year Stonehuggers of Indiana has been here to work on cemetery restoration at Cady and Hillside Cemeteries. A lot of fantastic work has been done to improve broken, tilted, and worn stones. There is still more to be done next year. The money for this project comes from more than one place. The township owns five cemeteries and therefore money must be budgeted to landscape them and keep them in good shape. The Cady Questers of Inverness raised money for a new fence and some of the work on Cady. The Historical Society has been raising money for the last 19 years through our cemetery walks every May. Those funds always go to fix the old stones from Hillside that have no family here any longer. This year brought many stones needing work so extra funds were raised to help. Following are some photos of the workers from Stonehuggers from both cemeteries this year.
2010 Restoration Meeting
Stonehugger’s Working at Cady Cemetery
The Stonehuggers team came to Palatine the last week in September. They started work at Cady. Unfortunately they worked in the rain and then the mud the first few days. Ruben Cuellar went out there to take some photos of the work for the website. A good number of the stones were cleaned with water only. They were then put back into bases, some new, and the pieces were cemented together. When finished the stones look like new again. Wooden tripods are used to hold up tall columns while they are being worked on.
Stonehugger’s Working at Hillside Cemetery
Stonehuggers, a cemetery restoration company, owned by Helen Wildermuth has been in Palatine again this year. Cady Cemetery’s restoration is now complete. Additional work was done at Hillside Cemetery and will be continued next year. Photos here of the work were taken by Ruben Cuellar. Money for these projects is raised yearly by our Cemetery Walks in May. This is added to Palatine Township’s funds for care of their five cemeteries.
Stonehugger’s monument restoration is back at Hillside Cemetery this September to straighten, fix, and clean the tombstones. The Historical Society uses all the money from our annual Cemetery Walk to help Palatine Township pay for this restoration. Stonehugger’s uses no chemicals on the stones, only water and revolving brushes. Photographs taken by Ruben Cuellar.
