Save Your Stones - Gravestone Preservation Services - Serving Western Wisconsin
  Save Your Stones - Gravestone Cleaning & Preservation Solutions
  • Home
  • About
  • D/2 & Cleaning Products
  • Services
  • Education
  • Before & After
  • Contact
  • Blog

do you need permission to clean a gravestone? part 1

7/3/2019

9 Comments

 
Picture
"I'm a 'Good Samaritan' wanting to the clean gravestones of neglected veterans who are not my family members.  I can just do that, right?"  The answer to that question may surprise you. 

One of the topics I cover when I give presentations or workshops about gravestone cleaning is about permissions.  Over the next few blog entries I'll provide answers for some of the more commonly asked questions with answers I received directly from the Wisconsin Historical Society - Historic Preservation Division.  If you're not cleaning a gravestone in WI, check with the state historic preservation office in your state because similar rules will apply.
​
1.  Must I have permission to inventory, clean, or reset a gravestone or to remove vegetative growth from within a cemetery?
Answer:  Yes.  You must obtain permission from 1) the property owner to enter the cemetery itself if you must cross private land to access the cemetery, and 2) the Trustees of the cemetery to do any work with a gravestone (such as cleaning) or within the cemetery (such as brush removal).  "Trustees" means the recognized representatives of the original incorporators, board of directors, affiliated church, or cemetery association.  
9 Comments

    Author

    Jarrod Roll...museum curator by training, preservation educator by passion.  Director of the Monroe County Local History Room & Museum, Sparta, WI.  Owner of Save Your Stones Gravestone Restoration Services.  Maker of the Gravestone Cleaning Kit.

    Archives

    July 2022
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.