Cleaning and weeding

The saga of cleaning our 250+ headstones continues but made a giant step forward this summer. 

Over the last few years I've been trying, somewhat successfully and somewhat not, to clean the "gunk" off of our headstones in Trinity Cemetery, especially the ones that are near trees. I was able to get most of the recent mold and nature stains off of them with a commercial cleaner made just for cemetery stone. But, on the really old ones there was a layer of black "gunk" that covered the marble completely. You could make out the names, but just barely.

This summer our maintenance crew, at my request to TRY anything, used a concrete cleaner and voila the black stuff came off and they are almost totally clear. Above is a photo of the worst one, a gravestone with the names of six sisters from the 1860s. I don't know if their remains are really there or if, because of circumstances of that time, the names are the only commemoration.

Anyway, here they are and it's great to see them. 

PS  Just like dusting and vacuuming are a major part of indoor cleaning, weeding and picking up are a constant job for outdoor areas! I just returned from a short vacation and I'd swear the weeds knew I was away--they just went wild in our gardens! It will take me a couple weeks to get them "back in shape."