The old vault house at the Batavia Union Cemetery in Batavia, built in 1881, is currently being repaired.

The old vault house at the Batavia Union Cemetery in Batavia, built in 1881, is currently being repaired.
By Art Hunter
Editor

The Batavia Union Cemetery Board is sponsoring cemetery restoration workshop from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Friday, June 13 at the cemetery.

John Walters, a cemetery restoration professional from Connersville, Ind., will be presenting the workshop.

The workshop will cover cleaning stones, locating unmarked graves, leveling grave markers, and more.

Cemetery board member Steve Shinkle said the training is going to be very important as the board looks to continuing restoration work at the cemetery.

“We had done some work previously, but we’ve found out that it may have been done wrong because we didn’t have the proper training,” Shinkle said.

He said that among other possible problems, headstones can be damaged if the wrong types of cleaners are used on them.

The Batavia Union Cemetery is funded by the village of Batavia and by the township trustees. The first burials at the site date to the 1830s. The village purchased land in 1879 with the township to expand what was then the old Citizen Cemetery. That purchase and others expanded the cemetery to its current 15 acres.

For more information or to register for the workshop, call Shinkle at (513) 468-0920.