This fall Cornell's Preservation Studies Student Organization (PSSO) undertook a stabilization project at a historic local cemetery whose oldest headstones date from 1844.

The Davis Family Cemetery is located on an easement on Steep Hollow Farm in the Town of Ithaca. While the family had been involved in the early development of Ithaca, no members live in the area now and the cemetery hadn't been maintained for about 70 years.

The Cornell students found deteriorated, sunken, and soiled headstones, unmonitored growth of self-seeded saplings and plants, and trees that grew into the elements of the wrought iron fence. They photographed and documented the cemetery's current state, removed overgrown vegetation, and planted a maintenance-free ground cover that will deter pioneer varieties of plants from returning. The group has since returned to conserve the wrought iron fence, grade the sides of the plot to promote better drainage, and plant cedars at each of the four corners, to duplicate the cemetery's original configuration.

"Cemeteries have a particular importance to the historic preservation community," said Barbara Ebert, a Cornell Historic Planning professor who accompanied the PSSO students. She explained that they offer a dated index to the use of building materials and methods of landscape design employed in a region.

"Over time they create a microcosm that contains a multitude of material-conservation issues worthy of attention and analysis," she noted. "The Davis Family Cemetery displays a variety of conservation problems that demand attention and can be learned from."

"Apart from being an educational exercise, cemeteries such as this are an aspect of the built environment that is too often ignored," said Cornell graduate student and PSSO member Emily Butler. Butler said she would like to see PSSO adopt the Davis Cemetery as an ongoing project close to home. In previous years the group undertook several stabilization projects on Ellis Island.

For information on how to become involved in future stabilization exercises, contact Nate Jonjevic at naj3@cornell.edu .