Save The Headstone Project

 

Like any historic cemetery, Oak Hill has monuments or gravesites in need of restoration.

 

 

 

The Save The Headstone project lets you contribute to our efforts to repair or restore specific headstones, gravesites or lots. With your help, we can memorialize the people buried here by bringing their monuments back to good shape and by telling their stories.

 

These monuments or gravesites are in the historic sections of the cemetery, and these people came from all walks of life. Their gravesites are in various states of disrepair from small projects (such as re-standing a fallen stone into its socket) all the way to replacing a missing headstone. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maria Brainard 1814-1885 Location 1-027 Findagrave memorial    Elmina or Imina Maria Brainard was a nurse matron in the Civil War.   The top of Maria’s monument is broken off, but present.	Adam Vrooman West 1824-1892 Location 1-027 Findagrave memorial   Adam was a prominent building contractor in Pontiac.   Adam’s headstone is prone, just to the right of Maria’s monument.   He is listed here as part of the Maria Brainard lot.	William Albertson 1811-1887 Location 1-076 Findagrave memorial   Captain William Albertson served in the Civil War. He was an organizer of the 22nd Michigan Regiment, serving as the leader of Company A until the end of the war.    William’s headstone is prone, laying next to its base.	Rev. Joseph Frey 1771-1850 Location 1-076 Findagrave memorial   Reverend Joseph C.F. Frey was William Albertson’s father-in-law. He was a well known missionary for the Christian faith after converting from Judaism early in his life.   Rev. Frey’s headstone is broken, with the top half of the stone laying prone in front of the lower half, which is still standing.
Stephen Bromley McCracken	Eunice Bromley McCracken	Robert “Old Bob” McCracken	John H. McCracken
John Carter	Richard Hunt Whitehead	Mary Ann Mais Whitehead	Almeron Weller Whitehead
Henry Scott	Laura Talbot Dwight	Evelina Drake	Judge Thomas J. Drake
Walter Ash	Jonathan Ash	Nancy Bagley	Elvira Bagley
James Carpenter	Mary Colby Church	Judah Church	Clarissa Bronson
Luman Bronson

We hope to begin work on these stones in the spring of 2026, with a goal of completing repairs by the fall, although scheduling may push repairs into 2027 or even further.

 

When you adopt a monument, you’ll be asked to make a one-time donation of any amount toward that repair. We ask that you donate the amount listed, but any amount will be accepted. Any funds remaining after the repair is completed will be used on other restoration projects.

 

When sufficient funds are available to make the repair, we’ll schedule it and prepare a brief story about the life or lives of the people you’ve memorialized, and we will acknowledge your contribution in our Gazette and at our annual cemetery walk (unless you choose to remain anonymous). When the repair is complete we will send you photographs of before and after the repair and a brief history of the person or people you’ve memorialized by repairing the monument.

 

 

There are also several lots – a group of gravesites related to a family – that need repair. The costs for these are naturally higher than for individual monuments. They’re an excellent opportunity to memorialize ancestors or people of like interests. Contact us for information about restoring an entire lot.