In recent weeks, the cemetery in Enterprise has had a visit from the Cemetery Doctor to fix up various gravesites that had fallen into disrepair over the year.
Trent Lewis, the Cemetery Doctor, learned his skills and started out as simply a volunteer through another program. It was after seeing such a high need for that type of job that he decided to officially start his business.
“We all belong to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and that’s where we got started. We started doing a lot of Confederate cemeteries and stuff like that, and then it just kind of went from there,” recalled Trent. “We started doing it for a lot of other veterans and families. People started seeing a lot of the work that we do and wanted help. We got our start out at Rodney Cemetery out there south of Port Gibson. It’s a huge cemetery that we’ve been working on for five or six years now. We didn’t really get our start there necessarily, but that’s where the crew started developing and where I took it and ran with it. I decided one day I wanted to start a business doing this to help people and make a little profit.”
There is a big demand for the work his crew does, and there aren’t many people who know how to do it correctly. The work is very difficult and takes time, but they are able to repair multiple problems in the cemetery.
“I started the business called the Cemetery Doctor where we would do any type of stone restoration,” explained Trent. “We repair tombstones. We clean them. We restore them. We restore cemeteries from the ground up. There is a big demand for what we do. Nobody else around really does the kind of stuff we do. I have a good crew, and everybody knows their job and how to do it.”
Along with fixing and restoring headstones and monuments in cemeteries, they are also able to locate abandoned and lost graves and cemeteries.
“We’ve actually recovered abandoned cemeteries that were like jungles and cleaned those out,” expressed Trent. “We also find graves. We do the dowsing, and we do stone excavation.”
The crew was called in to work on different plots for the Deas family, and they were able to complete multiple sites within a few days and find two missing graves for the family. In their restoration process, they make sure to do everything correctly so that no harm comes to the stones.
Depending on what the job requires of them, they have specifics steps that they follow. After they complete the difficult work, everything looks as good as new.
“The job we were called in to do was a two day job and was a lot of work. Two of the stones we worked on were laying on the ground and buried. You could barely see them, and all of the bases we worked on were loose, crooked, and turned,” described Trent. “The first thing we did for each of the sites was dig the stones out of the ground and then dig all the bases out completely. To fix a stone that’s unlevel, you have to build a new foundation for it. We dig around the whole stone and then underneath it like a tunnel. Then, we take this granite rock that you can buy at Lowe’s or anywhere. You want to use the granite rocks that have sharp edges because the edges interlock and create a bond like concrete. We use that and first level the bases. Then, we start the process of rebuilding the stone however bad it is.”
Once they have created a new foundation and leveled the base for the stones, they begin the process of preparing the rest of the stone, which could entail different things depending on the damage.
“We took a makeshift chainhorse crane and lifted each stone as much as we could,” continued Trent. “We put epoxy underneath because epoxy is like a glue that sets, and the stones will not move when the epoxy is applied. Sometimes there are chunks missing, and we can sometimes put the pieces back in and re-epoxy them. If a piece is completely missing, there is a substance we use called resurf, and sometimes we can build a frame. We can pour the resurf into that frame, and once it’s dry, it acts like a patch job.”
Not only do they refurbish tombstones, but they also clean them. They make sure to clean them using approved methods and chemicals that will not erode or harm the stones.
“There are different ways to clean them, and you usually develop your own feel and way of doing it,” informed Trent. “We wet the stone first. That’s the number one thing you have to remember. You want the tombstone wet the whole time because water soaks into those things quickly. Water and a soft bristle brush will do wonders on a headstone before you put a chemical on there. You don’t have to scrub it real hard because you can damage it if you scrub too hard. After you wet it, you can either use a plastic trowel to scrape or a soft bristle brush to clean it. Make sure to have different size brushes because you learn what type and size you want to use for different things, such as small ones are good for wording, symbols, edges, indentations, and all that. Once you’re satisfied with the scrubbing, you wash it off. It’ll wash the film off, and you’ll start seeing results immediately. Then, we use D-2; it’s a biological chemical that is safe to use on tombstones. All the National Park Services use it, and it’s been tested and approved for safety by preservation and conservationists. There are a lot of products out there that people can use to clean stones, but they can harm the stone and people don’t see the damage until it’s too late. Bleach is the old school way, but it eats up the tombstone inside and out. D-2 is the only thing we use because it is approved and safe.”
With the hard work that Trent and his crew put in, along with the cost of travel and materials, the cost of fixing a tombstone could cost anywhere from $900 and up depending on what the job is and how long it will last. The final product is well worth the money spent for anyone who really wants to fix a grave that in sinking or appears to have been neglected over the years, however.
Before and after pictures of his work can be found on the company Facebook page, The Cemetery Doctor. Anyone interested in hiring The Cemetery Doctor to restore a plot in the future can also message him on that Facebook page to request a quote.
