A historic church and its cemetery in Kittanning is the sole stop in Pennsylvania on a 48-state tombstone restoration and preservation tour.

Christ Rupp Lutheran Church in Kittanning Township was recently selected to host a free public workshop on how to preserve old tombstones.

It’s being held Friday, Aug. 28 .

The event is part of a nationwide 48 State Tour, sponsored by Atlas Preservation, a professional monument and building restoration supply company based in Connecticut.

The tour mission is to conduct 48 restorative tombstone workshops in the U.S.’s “lower 48” states.

The workshops are led by renowned gravestone restoration preservationist Jonathan Appell.

Scott Rothwell, volunteer and president of the Christ Rupp Lutheran Church cemetery board, said he applied for workshop consideration right away upon hearing of the tour.

“They were looking for older cemeteries to restore and train others in the restoration, as many older cemeteries across the U.S. have fallen into disarray,” Rothwell said. “We have tombstones here from the Spanish-American, American Revolution and American Civil wars.”

Christ Rupp was founded in 1786. It’s the oldest Lutheran church in Armstrong County.

“Our cemetery isn’t in disarray, but we have so many tombstones that need repaired, and I wanted to fix them right,” Rothwell said. “I thought this would be a great opportunity for us and the community to learn how to do that.”

Rothwell has restored more than 20 tombstones himself, volunteering his time as one of three caretakers at Christ Rupp’s cemetery.

The daylong workshop begins Friday at 9:30 a.m. and is scheduled to wrap up around 3:30 p.m. Rothwell is providing a free lunch.

Appell, of Atlas Preservation, has more than 25 years of experience restoring historic gravestones nationally. He plans to clean a veterans memorial at each cemetery stop.

His most high profile restoration project was a multi-year conservation effort on a burial stone believed to be the oldest of its kind in America — the Knight’s Tomb — located in historic Jamestown, Va.

“This free tour was my idea because I had a lot of things cancel and I wanted to do this because there is a lot of gaining interest in this subject,” Appell said. “I am teaching other people, and it becomes an exponential thing and a chain of events through education.”

Appell said the number one cause of tombstone deterioration is water.

“Water, rain, acid rain, pollution, neglect, severe storms, lawn mowers from maintenance and even vandalism are all contributing factors,” Appell said.

Those attending will participate in a safe and supervised hands-on cleaning of select gravestones. That will be followed by assorted repairs that may include raising or leveling badly sunken, leaning or fallen tombstones, joining fractured tablets and resetting pieces of monuments.

Participants are asked to bring a soft-bristled brush and face mask.

All covid-19 precautions for social distancing will be followed and the entire event will take place outside on the cemetery grounds.

Appell said the feedback from the program has been well received.

“Everyone has been enthusiastic and excited about learning,” he said.

To register: 724-763-2796 or email fordcityOO@hotmail.com

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