The Historical Society of Easton is pleased to sponsor the return of Michael Carroll and the Rediscovering History team to Union Cemetery on May 18th from 10 AM until 2 PM. The team will once again work with the Union Cemetery volunteers to restore and preserve several more headstones and monuments.
Last October, Michael’s team in conjunction with the Easton volunteers at Union was able to repair and clean four large monuments in a similar operation. We invited him to return this spring, and he has generously agreed to continue in helping preserve some of Easton’s most endangered headstones.
Years of ordinary weathering can take their toll on both ordinary headstones and large monuments, but when many of the smaller headstones begin to lean as the winter frosts push on their base, that weathering process often speeds up as the inscription side of each stone becomes more exposed to the ravages of acid rain, ice, and wind. Without continued efforts to properly maintain and preserve these stones, the inscriptions often wear away and eventually disappear. Simply resetting some of these leaning stones greatly slows that weathering process, while others require more labor-intensive efforts to seal cracks and fissures that allow water to freeze, expand, and cause further damage as the years progress.
The Historical Society of Easton has recently established a separate page on its website to help fund the continuing volunteer efforts to restore and preserve Union Cemetery. We feel preservation of our historical assets is perhaps the most important aspect of our mission and that working with other community organizations is essential to successfully accomplishing that. Our Union Cemetery Preservation Project will begin featuring a pilot program this week aimed at raising funds and awareness for preserving some of the failing headstones and monuments at the cemetery. The Monument Adoption program will allow people to fund the preservation of a particular headstone or simply donate money to a general fund that will be set aside for preservation only. 100% of the proceeds from this project go to restoring and preserving monuments and headstones at Union Cemetery. Currently available stones (those already chosen for planned preservation efforts) are listed on our site along with the amount of money needed to preserve each individual stone. Small placards with a QR code will soon be placed alongside available stones in the cemetery and scanning that code will take you directly to our site. The first set of these stones all mark the graves of children who passed between the 1870’s and 1900. You can access those stones and learn more about the program @: The Union Cemetery Preservation Project – Historical Society of Easton Connecticut (historicalsocietyofeastonct.org)
It’s been two years since Bob and Bruce Laskay first initiated the reclamation and restoration of Union Cemetery. By the early 2020’s, the original cemetery association had all but fallen apart. There were only two men, both the sons of deceased association trustees, who were still trying to keep the cemetery from falling into total ruins. With no new burial plots left to sell, there was no viable income with which to properly maintain the property on a continuing basis. Suffering from several incidents of severe vandalism and seeing only sporadic summer mowing, no trimming of the scrubs, nor curbing of the weeds, the cemetery looked as if it might have been abandoned many years before. But the Laskays and their fellow volunteers worked tirelessly to make things happen and Union now looks as if it has been consistently maintained since its inception over two hundred and fifty years ago.
While there are still scars from the multiple rounds of past vandalism, even some of that damage is now being addressed. Some will be professionally repaired through donations and others are already receiving attention from Bob and Bruce in their effort to repair as many toppled stones as possible.
Throughout this process, the Easton community has come together and supported the movement to restore and preserve Union. Generous donations have been tendered; some by individuals from near and far, and some by other organizations from within the town and other areas in Connecticut. The Easton Volunteer Fire Department gave a rather substantial sum of money that greatly aided in paying for the mowing last year. Michael Sabia & Son Landscaping and Excavation has generously provided mowing services at a greatly reduced rate. The Historical Society of Easton sponsored a day last fall where several fallen or damaged monuments were righted and repaired and will continue to sponsor headstone and monument preservation efforts in the future. Rediscovering History, a non-profit organization from Columbia, Connecticut has continuously volunteered its time and the expertise of its principals Michael Carroll and Larry Hunter to help our local team of volunteers work on monument repairs. Sam Partridge of Silver Hill Services has donated his time and machinery to assist in the work. Attorney William Zorzy has done pro-bono legal work to make certain the cemetery association is in good standing with the Connecticut Secretary of State. And of course, Bob and Bruce Laskay have provided more hours of volunteer work than any two human beings could ever be expected of. There are other numerous volunteers and donors not mentioned here, but whom the entire community is thankful for.
Working together as a community proves that almost any reasonable task can be accomplished. Volunteerism is alive and well in Easton, and if we all work together, we can preserve the history of this great town. Thanks to all who have given and to all in the future who will. While there is much left to still be done, the progress at Union to date has been nothing short of amazing!
