A New Season for Northern Bedrock's Second Crew - Week 1: Getting Skilled to Preserve our most Sacred Spaces
"Building on the tradition of non-military service initiated in the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps will hire young adults working in crews to do hands-on historic preservation work throughout the state of Minnesota. Northern Bedrock is partnering with the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) to combine the need to preserve properties of historic significance with Northern Bedrock’s mission to provide meaningful employment and social development for young adults in Minnesota."
The Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps' crew and staff Jeannie Collins, Joshua Preston, Zachery Wilson, Ryan Larson, Derek Wolf, City of Carlton Public Works Superintendent, Pete Bonk, Ashley Brey and Rolf Hagberg.
Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps
Second Season Highlights
Mid-September 2015, Northern Bedrock followed up its successful inaugural season by starting a fresh crew on preservation projects around Minnesota.
After introductions, the new unit attended its first training. There they practiced proper techniques to clean, lift and re-set headstones and monuments. These recruits then took their new preservation skills to Carlton's Hillside Cemetery to provide much-needed maintenance in the memorial site.
Using common tools such as plastic scrapers to detach lichen growth from stones and wooden shish kabob skewers to clean out engraved lettering, the Preservation Corps reclaimed many difficult to read markers.
In addition to cleaning and preventing further vegetative growth on stones, the crew also leveled many of the horizontal markers that were sinking in the earth.
"Many of these headstones were installed nearly a century ago and have sunk into the ground," said Northern Bedrock's Operation Director, Peter Bonk.
To save these markers, crew members dug up the headstones and placed a mix of pea gravel and paving sand, then re-set and leveled these memorials.
"The crew members were moved as we talked about how many of these graves are of people born in the mid-1800s," said Bonk. "For some of them, this grave stone is the only place their names were ever publicly printed."
The mood at the Carlton Cemetery was said to be reverential of the historical significance of this project.
The NBH Preservation Crew will be heading into remote Northern Minnesota to salvage historical buildings in the Superior National Forest.
City of Carlton Fire Department (Carlton, MN): The preservation crew trained on the cleaning and preservation techniques to rehabilitate weathered grave markers.
Carlton Hillside Cemetery (Carton, MN): Crewmember pulls back the overgrowth to expose the marker and begins to clean and recover the lettering.
Carlton Hillside Cemetery (Carlton, MN): Corps members use monument-safe techniques to clean off years of lichen growth and dirt from headstones.
Carlton Hillside Cemetery (Carton, MN): This before and after photo shows the results of the preservations corps impact at the cemetery.
Carlton Hillside Cemetery (Carlton, MN): Crew member motors supplies to around the site.
Carlton Hillside Cemetery (Carlton, MN): Leveling tasks take both brain and brawn for these crew members rescuing markers sinking into the earth.
Carlton Hillside Cemetery (Carlton, MN): A crew member wields a shovel to level headstones without damaging it.
Carlton Hillside Cemetery (Carlton, MN): Crew members learn the importance of precision in historic preservation.
Carlton Hillside Cemetery (Carlton, MN): This before photo of a double length grave marker shows how needed preservation skills are in the Midwest.
Carlton Hillside Cemetery (Carlton, MN): A double-length stone being restored by a crew member removing grass overgrowth, levels the marker and cleans the lettering.
Carlton Hillside Cemetery (Carlton, MN): In addition to tools, Crew members use their hands to perform precision work..
Carlton Hillside Cemetery (Carlton, MN): Crew members use guidelines to ensure markers are placed straight.
Media Coverage
The corps has been fortunate to receive much interest from the media and public. Check out the links below to see our coverage.
The Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps is financed in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.
What's Next
Northern Bedrock staff will continue to work with the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota History Coalition. We are anticipating a field season next summer. Please contact us if you have a project for our next crew.
Staff are also building relationships with project partners, technical specialists, and trade unions. Partnerships with organizations like HistoriCorps and Preservation Trades Network will be formed to combine the corps model with historic preservation.
We're looking for historic preservation projects for our next crew in 2016. Please contact us if you're interested in being a project partner or have project suggestions.
Volunteer with Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps
If you would like to volunteer on any of our projects or have design and marketing skills to help with promoting Northern Bedrock's mission, we'd love to hear from you. Please contact us and let us know how you would like to help.
