Girl's concern is saving part of town's history By Jennifer Moore, Staff Writer
MURFREESBORO-- Because a young girl cares about her town's history, headstones in the old cemetery are being restored for future generations.
"My Dad used to being me down here to help him trace families and I got interested," Caroline Stephenson relates.
The plot, on a hill to the north of the "new" cemetery, was thickly overgrown and Frank Stephenson Jr. obtained the help of Summer Youth Corps workers in 1967 and 1968 to get the site cleared. It was hot, heavy work but finally, gravesites could be identified and many headstones appeared. Caroline, now an honor student at Murfreesboro High School, was not born yet when this occurred. She entered the picture somewhat later.
As she began to realize the importance of the stones to the town's history, she thought about how the site could be restored and more stones unearthed. When several stones revealed the name "Camp," she decided to approach Mrs. Virginia Camp Smith, chairman of the Historic Murfreesboro Commission, about ways to fund a restoration of the site.
Mrs. Smith discussed it with her brother, John M. (Jack) Camp and it was recently announced the Camp Foundation would appropriate $5000 for the work.
Hall and Baker Archaelogical Company of Weaverville were retained and Linda Hall and Michael Baker started work in one small portion of the cemetery.
They have stabilized some stones, set aside others to take to their laboratory for treatment and are assessing the work needed on others.
The oldest tombstone the couple is working with is dated 1796 and marks the grave of William Rea's first wife, Margaret. He was the founder of the Rea Store, now the Rea Museum. Other Reas are buried in the plot and it is believed the Reas and the Camps were related to the Camp family which founded Camp Manufacturing Company in Franklin, Va., now Union Camp Corporation.
During a town council meeting recently, Mayor Billy Hill commented that as far as he knows, Councilman Jacob Ruffin's mother was the last person buried in the old portion.
The burial site was set aside as the only public cemetery when the town was established in 1787. Several paupers were laid to rest in the 1920s and 1930s on the side bordering the road between the old and new cemeteries.
When the restoration team arrived, they found stones jumbled and fallen over, many lying on top of others. Only the markers for the graves of Juliet Camp, Margaret Rea and Mary Ann Lyles were standing and none of these was straight.
Caroline points out that after the site was cleared, the town agreed to keep the site mowed. However, the lawnmovers have chipped at stones and caused other damage which Hall and Baker are starting to correct.
Caroline explains that lichen tends to obscure the lettering but at the same time it protects the stones, so this may be left alone.
Baker describes the team's work process, saying they first mapped what they saw then chose arbitrary boundaries "so when we come back, we can set up measurements from the stakes."
They unearthed the buried portions, finding the stones were sunk into the ground an equal amount to the portion above ground. The largest stone has an underground section chest deep. The top part weighs 200 pounds.
They take out as much of the buried portion as they can then stabilize the rest with cement. Eventually, as the portions are joined, the cement will be just several inches below ground with grass covering it "to preserve the integrity of the site," Baker states.
The acid in the clay surrounding the lower portion eats away at the marble, Caroline notes, so the stones taken up must be cleaned then left to dry for a week. Then they are mended.
The upper part will be glued to the buried part with epoxy, with temporary supports to hold it until it is firmly set.
The broken pieces from above ground will be put back together with polyester resin in the lab then returned to Murfreesboro to be bonded to the underground section.
Baker says he matches the thicknesses of the top part with the bottom part, then tries to match the patterns of the breaks to get the right headstone with the right footstone.
There are many cracks in the upper portions and these will be filled in to prevent breakage.
As the team works, their small son, Jason, wanders around the site, occasionally stopping to "help." He hunches over a spot where his mother digs slowly and carefully to get the bottom of a marker. Once in a while he scoops up a bit of dirt.
A visitor, John Woodard of Conway, comes by from time to time to help with the labor.
Many small tools lie about to be used in the sensitive work, which needs trowels, spoons, brushes and other items to bring a footstone to light.
"It is a long, drawn-out process and it is not inexpensive," says Baker, as he gazes around the site in bright summer sun.
"This is a part of Murfreesboro's history and it should be saved," earnestly comments Carolina as she watches the progress of the work she initiated.
She is hoping additional funding can be found to find and restore other graves in the cemetery. But right now, she is concerned with saving one small portion. [A picture of Miss. Stephenson in the old cemetery accompanied the article] "R-C News Herald", Ahoskie, [Hertford County], N.C.
[sometime in the mid to late 1980's]
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