Town Hosts Gravestone Cleaning Workshop at Monfort Cemetery

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — North Hempstead Historian Ross Lumpkin welcomed preservationist and historian Zack Studenroth to lead a recent gravestone cleaning and straightening workshop at the Monfort Cemetery in Port Washington.

At the event Aug. 15, Studenroth covered various topics including:

• Introduction to burial practices, historic stone types & typical patterns of deterioration
• Cleaning with non-abrasive materials, tools & techniques
• Application of D/2 antimicrobial solution to remove bio-growth
• Straightening of tilted stones in danger of falling & breaking
• Probing for missing fragments of broken stones

The Monfort Cemetery was selected for grant funding from the Preservation League of New York State for conditions analysis and restoration, and Studenroth was a member of the team that conducted the examination of the cemetery in 2022.

"I was especially pleased to see volunteers from the Port Washington Public Library at the workshop. Their participation in our effort to restore this historic site will be invaluable," Lumpkin said. "We want to create a team of volunteers who are trained to clean gravestones that are only partially legible and to straighten ones that are tilted. The historical society has already begun raising funds to bring in professionals to restore more severely damaged headstones. With 12 patriots of the American Revolution interred here, we've been inspired to get ready for its 250th commemoration in 2026."

Councilmember Mariann Dalimonte said the workshop provided residents the opportunity to get directly involved and help preserve significant historical landmarks for future generations.

”From Martin Schenck to members of the Onderdonk family, this location contains the remains of those who helped shape North Hempstead’s local history," she said.

The Monfort Cemetery was an active burial ground from at least 1737 to 1892. The site contains some of the Town’s earliest settlers including the Onderdonk, Hegeman, Dodge, Rapelje and Schenck families. The cemetery was cared for until 1984 by Burtis Monfort and then deeded to the town by him. It was declared a Town landmark on July 23, 1985 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

The Town and the Cow Neck Historical Society have worked in conjunction to raise funds, obtain grants, organize tours and events, and landscape the property.

"With Long Island’s constantly changing landscape we sometimes forget just how large a role it played in this nation’s history," Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said. "The tombstones at Monfort are like a public museum that offer us a glimpse into that past and can tell what life was really like in these towns and villages."