One of the favorite places for a genealogist to conduct research is the family cemetery. Unfortunately, over time many gravestones are covered with lichen or other biological growth, which can make them unrecognizable and unreadable.   

Sometimes people attempt to clean their family gravestones using a variety of dangerous and potentially destructive practices such as bleach, corrosive cleaners and wire brushes. There definitely is a science to removing lichen and other biological growth from gravestones with best practices coming from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

Our very own Kevin Wester has become somewhat of a gravestone-cleaning guru. After taking a National Trust webinar on cleaning gravestones, he led the charge in the summers of 2020, 2021 and 2022 to organize a group of about 100 volunteers to clean nearly 2,000 gravestones in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Lake Church (Belgium), Wisconsin. This cemetery, the ancestral cemetery for the Wester side of Kevin’s family, it dates to 1848, the same year Luxembourgers founded St. Mary’s Parish. The hard work of all those involved transformed the cemetery and renewed it for future generations to enjoy. 

You can watch a video of Kevin demonstrating how to properly clean gravestones using D/2 Biological, which is endorsed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as the best product on the market. You can also download an instruction sheet on how to properly clean gravestones. Enjoy the video below and consider renewing your family gravestones as a tribute to your ancestors. See the photo gallery below of gravestone-cleaning volunteers in action at St. Mary’s Cemetery.