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Volunteers clean, raise and document headstones at Tumwater’s Union Pioneer Cemetery
Summary
Members of local DAR and SAR chapters told the Tumwater City Council they located about 25 unmarked burial sites and have been cleaning and stabilizing headstones; volunteers said the city supplied aggregate and crews will return next summer to continue work.
Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Sons of the American Revolution presented the results of a volunteer project to restore headstones and document graves at Tumwater’s Union Pioneer Cemetery. Debbie Sullivan and volunteer Lou Mosley, who spoke on the record, described cleaning, straightening and limited excavation to locate buried markers.
At the council meeting on Dec. 2, the volunteers said they used conservation-safe cleaning (D2), small lifting rigs and human-remains–detection dogs trained on older remains to find suspected burial locations. "We detected 25 spots that didn't have a marker attached to it," one presenter said, and volunteers reported unearthing several markers previously buried beneath soil and moss.
Volunteers credited a city partnership for providing aggregate and water logistics and said historic-preservation consultant Mick Hersey will return with a hoist to reassemble a large fragmented monument. The presenters emphasized that most excavation is done by hand and that long-term preservation will require follow-up work.
Council members and the city administrator thanked the volunteers for their work and the city noted it provided limited material support and site coordination. The volunteers said they plan more restoration work in the coming summer months.
The presentation was informational; no formal action or funding commitment was requested or made during the meeting.
