Memorial stones were meant to stand the test of time; Wiscasset’s town crew takes pride in ensuring they will.

Over the past few years Steve Christiansen, Matt Huber, Stephen Schweigard and Arthur Richard, the workers responsible for the care and maintenance of the town’s cemeteries, have been gradually righting and repairing toppled gravestones. Public Works Director Doug Fowler has given his full support to the effort.

Breakage of a memorial stone is often the result of mother nature and father time taking their toll, Christiansen said.

Many 18th and 19th century gravestones were set in place and anchored with iron pins, whose elements have eroded away over the decades. This causes them to lean to one side or another as the stone settles. They sometimes topple over, crack and even break into pieces.

As Christiansen explained, putting the pieces back together isn’t an easy task. The pieces have to be carefully cleaned, and dry-fitted together.

“A lot of times we’re working on a stone that’s been repaired before.  If that’s the case, we have to remove all of the previous epoxy or cement. After that we can apply a new layer of adhesive,” he added.

The crew uses the same two-step epoxy the city of Bath uses to repair its gravestones and monuments. Repairing a stone takes a day or two, sometimes longer depending on the degree of damage. Smaller pieces are epoxied together first. After they’ve hardened, they’re fitted to the larger sections.

Gravestones that have fallen over or broken in half sometimes have to be supported with a permanent cement backing. Doing so first requires making a temporary form.

“The repair depends on the age of the stone and what it’s made of. Some of the stones here in the Ancient Cemetery are marble, others are slate or granite,” Christiansen said.

Most of the repairs can be made in the cemetery. One stone broken into eight pieces was removed from the Ancient Cemetery to the town garage and repaired there.

Christiansen recognized the gravestone from a picture he remembered from Fanny S. Chase’s “Wiscasset in Pownalborough,” a book covering the early history of the town written in 1940.

The marble stone marked the grave of Manasseh Smith, a graduate of Harvard University who served as a chaplain in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He later practiced law in Wiscasset.

A smiling sun is carved at the top of Smith’s gravestone symbolizing the soul rising to Heaven and the Latin inscription, Oriturus occidit — “He sinks destined to rise.”

Smith died in 1823. He’s perhaps best remembered for having built the first brick home in Wiscasset in 1797 that’s occupied now by the Carl M.P. Larrabee Agency, Inc. on the corner of Pleasant and Main streets.

Christiansen joined the town crew four years ago. He told the Wiscasset Newspaper he takes a particular pride and interest in maintaining the town’s cemeteries. Many of his ancestors are interred here in Maine’s Prettiest Village.

“My great, great, great, great, great-grandfather is buried right over there,” he said pointing to another stone in the Ancient Cemetery. “His name was Nathan Clark, it was his grandson, Capt. William Henry Clark, that donated the town clock to Wiscasset in 1907,” he said.

The crew maintains 11 of Wiscasset’s 38 known cemeteries. Some of the smaller burial grounds contain only a few stones and are on private property. The town crew recently finished restoring the gravestones at the Jackson and Nason cemeteries.

“Many people, not just those in town, have seen us working and commented how much they appreciate the work we’ve been doing,” continued Christiansen.

A number of stones in the Ancient Cemetery have undergone past restoration and repair. Years ago workers used cement and iron bars to brace the stones, like the stone marking the grave of Col. Ezekiel Cutter.

“Col. Cutter was one of the men responsible for construction of Wiscasset’s Powder House on Churchill Street,” added Christiansen. “Repairing his stone is going to be challenging because it has an iron bar through the middle of it.

“I enjoy doing this and it’s satisfying seeing these stones sitting upright again and back in one piece.”