Grave cleaning workshop helps persevere northwestern Michigan local history

WCMU | By Rebecca Particka

Published June 28, 2023 at 9:49 AM EDT

1 of 3 — Benzie Area Historical Society Grave Cleaning Workshop

Jane Purkins, volunteer curator for the Benzie Area Historical Society, uses a sponge to clean off a headstone in the Brundage Cemetery in Benzie County near Interlochen, on June 25, 2023. Purkins is hosting a series of workshops about grave cleaning. All of the equipment used can be found in someone's home like sponges, toothbrushes, and water. Purkins believes grave cleaning is important in persevering local history.

2 of 3 — Benzie Area Historical Society Grave Cleaning Workshop

Jane Purkins, volunteer curator for the Benzie Area Historical Society, and volunteer Mary La Palme try to make out the names on the headstone marking the grave in Brundage Cemetery in Benzie County near Interlochen on June 25, 2023. La Palme wanted to come to Purkins's grave cleaning workshop to learn how to better care for her family's final resting places.

3 of 3 — Benzie Area Historical Society Grave Cleaning Workshop

Jane Purkins scrubs away at dirt and lichen on Ida Brundage's headstone in the Brundage Cemetery in Benzie County near Interlochen. Purkins is a volunteer curator at the Benzie Area Historical Society and hosts grave cleaning workshops. The session at the Brundage Cemetery was the first of five to be hosted this summer.

A volunteer curator with a Northwest Michigan historical society is using her knowledge about grave cleaning to host workshops in an effort to preserve local history.

There are eighteen cemeteries in Benzie County... and by September, volunteer curator Jane Purkins says she hopes to complete her goal of visiting every single one.

Purkins and volunteers clean headstones with anything they can find at home: water, sponges, toothbrushes, and plastic trowels.

Purkins says the workshops began during the COVID-19 pandemic so the Benzie County Historical Society could continue preserving and teaching local history despite social distancing.

“I think it's a great way for families to talk about their history. I think it's a really neat thing for young people to learn about their family history or some of the important people that live in their community,” Purkins said.

Purkins says grave cleaning is important because it helps ensure local history isn’t lost. Her next grave-cleaning workshop is scheduled for July.