Restoring the past at Salisbury cemetery

SALISBURY — Passersby may have noticed someone wielding a shovel in the graveyard behind Salisbury Town Hall the week of Oct. 9.

Pre-Halloween shenanigans?

No. It was nothing more sinister than Martin Johnson of the Monument Conservation Collaborative restoring gravestones.

On Friday, Oct. 14, a reporter wandered by to see what was what.

Johnson was working on a new base for a stone, and pointed out several that had already been cleaned and reset.

“Each one is unique,” he said, referring not just to the stones themselves but to the way they have been treated over the decades (or centuries).

Johnson said he uses a proprietary treatment called D2 to remove accumulated grime and plant material from the stones.

The D2 is sprayed on and allowed to work its magic.

Then the stone is scrubbed by hand with a nylon brush, which is stiff enough to get the gunk off but will not further damage the stone.

Johnson and MCC (based in Norfolk) have worked all over the U.S. and abroad. Their list of restorations include the Wooldridge Monuments in Mayfield, Kentucky,  and the Satala Cemetery in Pago Pago, American Samoa, which were damaged by a fallen tree and a tsunami, respectively.