Bainbridge Township Bans Gravestone Rubbings in Cemetery

March 21, 2013 by Diane Ryder

School children on field trips to Bainbridge Township’s Restland Cemetery will no longer be allowed to make rubbings of historic tombstones as part of their lesson, after trustees decided last week to ban the practice.

Tombstone rubbings, long popular with genealogy researchers, involves laying a piece of paper, such as butcher paper or newsprint, on the surface of the stone and transferring the artwork and lettering onto the paper by rubbing it with a pencil, chalk or crayon.

Last week, Trustee Chris Horn said the township’s cemetery board had recommended prohibiting the practice.

Cemetery board member Ted Seliga said the board determined the rubbings could cause damage to the oldest stones, often made of marble or sandstone, which are softer than the granite commonly used today.

Seliga said that school children are often taken on tours of the cemetery, looking for historic or artistic stones, and do the rubbings under adult supervision as part of their field trip.

“The stones most likely to do the rubbings on are the most likely to be damaged,” Seliga told trustees. “It’s more acceptable to take photographs. Rubbings are not acceptable anywhere anymore.”

Bainbridge Historical Society President Chuck Hesse asked whether other area communities that have banned the practice have been challenged in court.

“No,” Seliga answered. “We’re looking out for the community and if it gets challenged, it gets challenged.”

Seliga conceded the ban would be hard to enforce.

“We’ll not be having a guard at the gate,” he told trustees. “Our concern is, if you show kids how to do it, they’ll go back and do it on their own. It’s a bad thing to promote. Nobody should be doing it.”

Trustees unanimously approved the ban.

Local genealogists appeared to be torn about whether rubbings should be banned in cemeteries.

“The problems the townships are having in cemeteries have more to do with vandalism than rubbings,” said Jeanette “Teeter” Grosvenor, cemetery sexton for Claridon Township and one of the county’s foremost experts on local cemeteries.

She said gravestone rubbings have been popular with children and genealogists for decades.

“I remember years ago at Hambden School taking newsprint and charcoal, doing rubbings, then spraying the paper with shellac to preserve them,” she said.

Added Grosvenor, “I think the main reason townships want to ban it is that they don’t want people tramping through the cemeteries, but in genealogy there’s a big push to find graves and a big nationwide project called Find a Grave.”

She explained some genealogy researchers use shaving cream, chalk, talcum powder or other coatings to read worn gravestones more clearly.

“That probably damages stones over time, even granite,” she said. “As far as the rubbings damaging the stones through pressure, I suppose that’s true over hundreds of years.”

But the genealogist for the Geauga County Public Library system disagrees and says the use of anything besides clear water or digital photography will hasten the breakdown of the stones.

“Rubbings are very detrimental to tombstones,” said Cheryl Felix McClellan, who has researched the topic at length and has written an article on the subject for Family Tree Magazine.

“A lot of these methods, even chalk, can discolor or damage the stones and are not good to use,” McClellan said. “Instead, take a squirt bottle with water, or use a mirror to focus the sunlight. Use only non-invasive methods.”

Rubbings of old stones, made of marble, slate or sandstone, make the stones start to fall apart, she explained.

“Chunks start falling off the slate. Marble over time becomes porous, called ‘sugaring.’ Pieces can come off in your hand,” McClellan said. “Most of the older marble stones in our area are already sugared and fragile.”

Granite stones are more durable, but are vulnerable to salt, weed killers and other chemicals, she said.

“Even the oil from roses can stain granite,” McClellan added.

Most national parks and historical sites have banned gravestone rubbing, McClellan said. “Most historical cemeteries now have rules that will help preserve the stones.”