Cemetery preservation workshop successfully reunited a gravestone with grave

LEWISBURG W.Va. (WVDN) – During a recent cemetery preservation workshop at the Lewisburg Cemetery behind the Old Stone Presbyterian Church attendees successfully reunited a gravestone with a grave. The gravestone had been broken and separated from the grave. With help from volunteers, workshop organizers from the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia (PAWV) were able to attach the broken pieces using a special epoxy adhesive. At the same time, the base of the gravestone was reset and leveled.

Once the adhesive had cured, the stone was cleaned using a biological cleaning agent approved by the National Park Service. Once cleaned, an inscription on the stone revealed that it belongs to Elizabeth Frances “Fannie” Echols who died on March 23, 1882. Research indicates she died of “brain inflammation” and had never married. She came to Greenbrier County from Rockbridge County, Virginia, and lived with her brother, John Jordan Echols who also moved to Greenbrier County and became a prominent farmer and elder in the adjacent Old Stone Presbyterian Church.

The cemetery workshop was sponsored by the Lewisburg House and Garden Club, Greenbrier Historical Society, and the West Virginia Humanities Council. Participants in the workshop left with information and skills that will help them document and restore cemeteries in their home communities.

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