The Friends of Evergreen in partnership with the Tate House Museum and the City of Portland Department of Public Services will host a Cemetery Stone Cleaning Workshop at Stroudwater Burying Ground, Westbrook Street, Portland on September 13 from 10:00 AM-2:00PM. Participants will learn how to document gravestones according to standards for historical and conservation purposes, including photography techniques for gravestones. Discussions will cover safety, conservation techniques according to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, condition assessment of the gravestone and proper cleaning techniques. All participants should dress for work, including work gloves, for this hands-on workshop.

The land known as the Stroudwater Burying Ground was purchased by Colonel Thomas Westbrook in 1727. The land was inherited by Westbrook’s partner, Samuel Waldo as Westbrook was indebted to him at the time of his death and then subsequently deeded to the parish by Waldo in 1786.The earliest recorded stone is from 1739. There are many citizens of note buried at the Stroudwater Burying Ground including George and Mary Tate who built the nearby Tate House at 1270 Westbrook Street,  Thaddeus Broad, owner of the Broad Tavern in Stroudwater and Lillian Stevens who was the president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

This workshop is made possible through a Maine Community Foundation Grant.

Pre-registration is required and the workshop fee is $10 ….

For more information and to register:

Contact Betty Janus at the Tate House Museum

1267 Westbrook St.

Portland ME 04102

207-774-6177 or

info@tatehouse.org