Monumental mission: B-C students help clean up Beallsville cemetery, restore headstones
Students from Bethlehem-Center Middle School arrived at the Beallsville Cemetery on a sunny, warm Wednesday morning with two missions.
First, about 45 student council members armed with garbage bags and grabber tools pitched in to help with the annual spring cleaning project at the sprawling cemetery, which encompasses about 17 acres.
At the same time, students in social studies teacher Michael Ozohonish’s seventh-grade class returned to work on a gravestone restoration project they started earlier this month at the historic cemetery, which is the final resting place for veterans from the Revolutionary and Civil wars, World War I, World War II, and other conflicts.
For the social studies students, it was the second trip in the past two weeks to the cemetery. Last week, with the help of Ashley Campbell, secretary/treasurer at Beallsville Cemetery, the students located about 20 headstones of Revolutionary and Civil War veterans and tackled the meticulous, back-bending task of cleaning them – a process that includes heavy scraping, cleaning and scrubbing.
Ozohonish said the students are using a specialized cleaning solution called D/2 Biological Solution, the same solution used on the stones in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., that breaks down the dirt, grime, and mold that time has left behind.
“Some of these stones are close to 200 years old and most likely have never been cleaned or treated, so it is a tough, time-consuming job,” said Ozohonish.
On Wednesday, the students started the second phase of the restoration project, which included spot cleaning and focusing on detail work, including lettering. Over the next few weeks, students will continue to spray the gravestones with the D/2 solution to eat away any surviving bacteria on the stones.
Ozohonish said the final phase of the project is a final cleaning, where students spray the gravestone one last time with the solution.
Ozohonish said the results of the cleaning are astonishing.
“After the three phases are complete, the stones usually have made an incredible transformation and look almost like the day they were put there,” he said.
Ozohonish said he has organized several veterans projects in his classes.
His class completed its first gravestone restoration project in 2022, when they restored a dozen veteran headstones.
“I think it’s important that the kids learn about the sacrifices our veterans make, and the least we can do is honor them,” he said.
For Ella Valentino, one of Ozohonish’s students who is involved in the project, the chance to help her community and to honor veterans has been an experience she’s embraced.
“It makes me feel really helpful, that we can clean the (headstones) and make them look nice again, and it’s just nice to do this to honor the veterans who served in wars,” said Valentino.
The middle school student council members ended up collecting dozens of trash bags filled with Christmas decorations, flowers, aluminum cans, broken bottles, and other items, and re-set flags and markers that had been blown down.
Student council sponsors Stephen and Erin Beyers, who lugged trash bags and offered encouragement as they led the kids through the cemetery, said community service projects are a key part of the student organization.
Campbell said the help the cemetery received from the student council members – more than 100 man hours – was a big boost to the cemetery, which, like other rural cemeteries across the country, has struggled to find volunteers to help with upkeep of the cemetery, where at least 4,500 are interred. A staff of three works to maintain the grounds and handle burial services.
“I’m excited to have the kids here today. I’m glad Mr. Ozohonish and the Beyerses are getting the students involved,” said Campbell. “Getting them hands-on experience and involved in what’s going on here is going to be what keeps this going. Our generation doesn’t even come out to put flowers out anymore. We struggle to get grants and donations to maintain the cemetery, so this is a huge help.”