    We began the work of repairing and restoring the Bethlehem Church section of the cemetery site on Monday, August 20th 2018. We began with the memorials of both the Reverend Samuel Lynes and Sarah J. Lynes. We ran a string to maintain orientation of line which we would reset later as we set grade and elevation of the memorials.
 We first excavated the memorial of Samuel Lynes. Approximately two thirds of the stone was below grade.  The stone was heavily covered in dirt and only water and a soft brush was used to clean it to expose its carvings which had not been seen in many, many years. Some pretty thick roots had to be carefully cut and cleared back during its excavation. The stone was gently laid to the side on a pallet covered with a folded tarp being careful to not stress the stone.   Upon excavation the stone measured 57” and was laid down in a similar fashion to the other memorial to reduce and avoid stress. Both stones were laid adjacent to one another and the remaining loose soil was removed. The soil in between the two memorials was also removed and any roots we saw were cut well back.  The height of the Reverend Samuel Lynes memorial was too shallow to be reset by the same method. To attain the desired elevation crushed granite was used to replace soil removed and compacted to bring up the base level. *We did look for the bottom portion of the stone which appeared may have broken off, but we had no success in finding it.  
 The finished work Work by J. Samuel Hiller August 2018 |  Rev. Samuel Lynes and wife Sarah J. Lynes, 11/19/2014      We reset Sarah Lynes memorial first. The height of her stone was tall enough to not require concrete. A base of crushed granite was compacted prior to beginning to reset the stone. I drew a light pencil line on her memorial for desired elevation which would line up with our string which we had reset. I would estimate that 300 pounds of crushed granite was used to surround her headstone at the base and the memorial of Sarah J. Lynes had been set.   We set the stone in the bed of crushed granite proud intentionally and carefully worked it down to the desired elevation. We then took the bricks which were original to the support of the headstones and laid them around the stone so that concrete was not making direct contact with the stone through and through. So 50% of the stone beneath grade was surrounded by crushed granite and the other 50% beneath grade was surrounded by original bricks and concrete. All of this was done in an effort to reduce putting unnecessary stress on the stone so that over time it will not sink or settle. The memorial of the Reverend Samuel Lynes was intentionally set slightly proud of the memorial of Sarah J. Lynes. All soil displaced was replaced by crushed granite.   |
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