Froehlich Cemetery update

A brief report on our accomplishments at the Froehlich Cemetery.

We had a small turnout, and one descendant of those buried at the cemetery was present and helped as well. In all, there are eight marked graves at the site. Three headstones are standing, including a modern military stone marking the grave of the Civil War veteran Augustus (a.k.a. Gustave) Froehlich. The other two standing monuments were obelisk style and had been re-set by descendants several years ago.

The original stone of Froehlich was badly fragmented and since it had been replaced, the fragments were buried atop his grave. The two obelisk style stones were unstacked and then restacked using our stack mix. A finial was glued back on top of one stone; the other finial remains missing.

All of the stones except the two obelisks and the modern headstone were thoroughly cleaned. All bases were located except for one. All bases were reusable, one being in fair condition and may be ‘improved’ by the descendants. The base of Froehlich’s original stone was utilized for the headstone of his infant grandson, whose base was not located. Genius! All but one headstone is reinstalled. This stone was in three pieces and we have the bottom third in its base, but need to epoxy the remainder. Two footstones were located and reinstalled.

The NHPS will level out the ground and plant grass in the spring next year. They will handle the ongoing maintenance.

We will plan another visit to complete the repairs on the one headstone and also to clean the two obelisks. Overall, the appearance of the cemetery was improved greatly yesterday. The weather was absolutely perfect. Everyone’s help was appreciated!

Our Thanks to the New Haven Preservation Society, who were on hand to help and they also provided coffee and coffee cake, and later chili with all the trimmings, and soda for lunch.