For years, the names etched into weatherworn headstones faded quietly beneath layers of dirt, lichen, and time —until Jason Bono began restoring them one at a time. With some brushes and a specially made cleaning solution, along with a reverence for local history, the 25-year-old has turned headstone cleaning into a small business, Hampton Headstone Care, and a history project.
Mr. Bono said last month that growing up in East Hampton had instilled a ”respect for history” that started him on this path. As a Boy Scout, he worked with the American Legion to identify graves of veterans so volunteers could put flags out on holidays.
Driving by the historical cemeteries around town made him realize an even larger truth: ”They're the history of the people who built this town.”
”Over time, more and more people are moving away,” Mr. Bono said. When families leave, the headstones of their ancestors and relatives often go without care, even while cemeteries maintain the grounds around them.
D/2, a biological solution manufactured specifically for gravestone cleaning, can cleanse surfaces without scrubbing, but he speeds up the process with soft-bristle brushes. It was critical to Mr. Bono that his tools and products do no harm, he added, and they are nontoxic to plant and animal life.
When entire cemeteries are abandoned, East Hampton Town steps in to care for them, Councilman David Lys, the deputy supervisor, said. Mr. Lys is the town board's liaison to the Land Management and Buildings and Grounds Departments, making him the de facto overseer of town cemeteries.
He said his ”fascination for colonial cemeteries” is what drew his attention initially. Sometimes, ”the information on a person's headstone is the only information we have about their life.”
Mr. Lys has sought to conserve and protect town-owned cemeteries over the last eight years. Three years ago, he succeeded in getting the Van Scoy family cemetery listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He also worked toward securing a $600,000 state grant to restore some headstones at the South End Cemetery on Main Street. That grant would have additionally covered ground-penetrating radar to uncover unknown or unclaimed graves. When it didn't work out, it made smaller efforts like Mr. Bono's particularly timely.
”Is there a need for it? Completely,” Mr. Lys said of Mr. Bono's service.
Herb Loper, a former Southampton Town police officer, led a cleanup and repair of some of the headstones at the East End Cemetery on Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett as well as at a smaller family cemetery in Northwest Woods. Mr. Loper and his group have also repaired broken and sunken headstones.
Mr. Bono said he's sticking to cleaning the monuments, but behind the scenes he is hard at work creating a headstone finder page on his website. With the help of some private cemeteries here, Mr. Bono is mapping the properties and asking residents to locate their family's gravesites on the map. The end goal is an ever-evolving interactive map of local graves.
Mr. Lys said he has worked in the past to put together a document listing the historical grave locations, but that was not a ”living document” that could develop in the way Mr. Bono's website can. The councilman said the town will continue to work at maintaining the history of those cemeteries, and added of Mr. Bono that ”maybe he will be part of that.”
You can add a gravesite to Mr. Bono's finder by visiting hamptonheadstonecare.com.
