Restoration Complete

This past Sunday the contractor overseeing the Walker Cemetery restoration project pulled up in front of the burial ground. When I walked over to talk with him he informed me that the work would be finished within a day or two. I knew they were awfully close. To me, it was just a matter of when they got back to finish up. By midday on Monday, the workers drove off for the last time. After some five months of on-again off-again bursts of impressive craftsmanship, the graveyard has been completely restored--and in a way that allowed it to gain acceptance on the National Register of Historic Places, which occurred about three weeks ago.  So then, the following should be the last in a series of photos I've taken to document the project's progress.

This is the marker for Rebecca Washington's final resting place. If you look closely, you should be able to see where the application of new concrete was used to re-seal the monument back together. Before work began the upper portion had completely separated from the main body of the marker. Workers later separated the base from the higher, thinner section and refortified it.

     These are the crypts belonging to two young children that were interned here long ago.The cover pictured on the left was in a state of total disarray before restoration began. I wondered how the workers would ever manage to properly fit the pieces of that jigsaw puzzle back together; but they did. If you get close enough you can even make out some of the original lettering that lined the cover. It's hard to read, not because the workers didn't do a good job, but due to the effects of wind and rain over the decades.  You can go here to get a better look at how these looked before work began.

This is where Jacob Wythe Walker is interred. The crypt's cover was obviously broken in pieces as was the portion of the brick wall shown here on the far right.

In a manner similar to that of Rebecca Washington's, Captain Jack Walker's monument was fused back together. The marker is no longer leaning to one side either.

Alas, all is as it should be in this tiny but historic graveyard. As the first of autumn's colorful leaves begin falling to the ground, this final resting place for some of Fayetteville's most prominent early settlers takes on a rustic feel.