Despite the summer heat and humidity, the cemetery cleaning team got to work at the historic Montfort Cemetery on August 15th.
Ross Lumpkin, trustee of the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society and historian for the town of North Hempstead, assembled the cemetery cleanup team to remove mold, algae and stains from old headstones and preserve history.
Volunteers from the Port Washington Historical Society and the Public Library joined Lumpkin in the cleanup.
"I was particularly pleased to see the Port Washington Public Library volunteers at the workshop. Your participation in our efforts to restore this historic site will be invaluable," said Lumpkin. "We want to put together a team of volunteers trained to clean partially legible headstones and straighten crooked headstones."
Lumpkin hired a professional to join the team, explain the different types of stones used for headstones, and teach him the basics of cemetery stone restoration. Lumpkin said the historical society has already begun mobilizing more professionals to help restore the most damaged headstones.
"With twelve patriots of the American Revolution buried here, we are inspired to prepare for their 250th commemoration," Lumpkin said.
The team uses biological solution D/2 to remove mold, algae and stains from old gravestones.
In a written statement, Lumpkin said, "Lichens not only hide the inscription on the stone, but they slowly and surely feed on the stone itself." If left alone, the surface of the gravestone will deteriorate to the point where there is no turning back.
The underside of the gravestone of Daniel Bogart, one of twelve Revolutionary War patriots buried in Montfort Cemetery, appears to have already been decayed by lichen. The crew reached Bogart's gravestone before the inscription became illegible.
The inscription is now fully legible and reads: "In memory of Daniel Bogart, who died December 24, 1828, aged 85 years."
According to Lumpkin, Bogart served as a sergeant in Captain Layton's company at Oyster Bay and fought in the Battle of Long Island alongside his brother Tunisia, who is also buried in Monfort Cemetery.
With the war over, the 13 colonies needed to make the dream of a nation they fought for come true, and Bogart did his part. He was elected and served first as a street supervisor in Wolver Hollow, then as a police officer and tax collector for Oyster Bay. He was single until he was 50 and married Maria Onderdonk, who died 11 years later. They had no children and he remained a widower for the last 19 years of his life.
"It wasn't until I retired and wandered around town that I became interested in local history," Lumpkin said in a written statement. "If a clairvoyant had told me that I would soon be working to preserve an old Dutch cemetery like Montfort Cemetery, I would have asked for my money back."
To Lumpkin's surprise, he said that treating a gravestone - washing, praying, servicing, scrubbing, spraying, rinsing and repeating - was time well spent.
"A few hours in the peace and quiet of a cemetery is good for the nerves," Lumpkin said. "The slow process of cleaning the stones requires patience, but when I saw Daniel Bogart's lost inscription appear before my eyes, it was magical."
Lumpkin said he felt a surprising connection with the veteran while cleaning the headstone.
"It instilled a sense of gratitude not only to him, but to countless people whose service secured the freedom and privilege to live as we do today," Lumpkin said. "It even made me think about my own father, who served in the Pacific during World War II, and how much I wished he knew what I did."
For more information about the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society, visit cowneck.org. To participate in the upcoming cemetery cleanup, contact Lumpkin at [email protected]
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