6 September 2008

Dear Friends of Spring Hill Cemetery,

Progress continues on preparing the cemetery for our GPR scan. Dustin of Regional Parks joined with 8 volunteers on Friday in removing more large debris, grooming ground where we hope to conduct the scan, and measuring to establish additional reference points for use by the GPR. Patsy and Dustin hauled huge downed tree sections from the southwest quadrant of the cemetery; while Dick, Evelyn, Rae, Sally and Larry further groomed sections we hope to scan. Jeremy and I took map coordinates on all of the cemetery boundary markers on the East and South sides of the cemetery, as well as established coordinates for the position of the enclosure, large and small firs, and the madrone. We piled gathered debris on the east side of the cemetery for later pick up by Regional Parks.

Our next step is for Ken Blum of Norcal Geophysical Consultants to view the cemetery to evaluate the condition of the cemetery floor. Jeremy and Evelyn have Cathy's map of the cemetery, and will meet with Ken at the cemetery in the next week or so. At that point Ken will be able to either schedule a date for the scan (hopefully later in September), or point out additional preparation items we need to take care of in order to maximize the efficiency of the scan.

More good news - I spoke with Gary Galeazzi of North Bay Monuments in Rohnert Park, and he should be ready to continue our headstone repairs in October. As you know, Gary has very generously volunteered his time and expertise to fix the broken monuments that we bring into his shop. He did a remarkable job repairing many of our stones last winter. Once we have the cemetery plan laid out, have enough of the debris removed to create sound ground for the headstone bases, and have the broken stones repaired, Gary has also offered to help us level/reset our bases and properly set the stones. This process will have to take place in the spring (not sure if we will be ready this spring) when the ground is soft enough to manipulate the bases. And it will require many strong volunteers to handle the heavy stones.

Many thanks to those of you who continue to forward on to me references you find to the cemetery and its inhabitants. Last month we began unraveling yet another connection between Spring Hill families. Evelyn brought to our attention the connection between the Zilhart / Titus / and Marsh burials. And, it turns out; they are related to the Sturgeons of Sturgeon's Mill who kindly milled the lumber for our enclosure. I want to encourage you to send me stories on any of the inhabitants at Spring Hill to keep with our documentation of the lives of those buried.

...I continue to give deepest appreciation to all of you who join with me in this effort.