Salem To Restore Gravestones At Nearly 400-Year-Old Cemetery

SALEM, MA — Salem's historic Broad Street Cemetery, which dates back to 1655, is part of the next phase of the ongoing restoration of the city's burial grounds.

The city hired Ludlow Memorial Company to reset headstones, consolidate and repair broken stones and clean fragile markers this fall and into the spring, if necessary.

The city will begin the next phase of restoration work on Dickson Memorial Chapel, a 1894 High Victorian Gothic granite and sandstone building at the entrance to Salem's youngest cemetery Greenlawn Cemetery, which was established in 1807.

Stained glass restoration firm Sash & Solder will restore 14 floral motif stained glass windows at the Chapel.

"We are excited to be working with the city to restore the stained glass windows at Dickson Chapel, Sash & Solder's Dennis LaVersa said. "It’s satisfying to be involved in a project that’s bringing a historical building back to life — especially since the windows are such an integral part of the art and architecture of the Chapel."

Window openings will be secured with temporary coverings during the restoration, which is expected to last until the spring.

"Salem is a community with a robust history," Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo said. "I am proud that we are able to continue to honor those who have come before us and who worked so hard to build Salem into the city we can enjoy today and into the future."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)