PFRP's: Annual Spring Cleanup

This Article was published in the Martinez News-Gazette on 5/17/2017

The Potter’s Field Restoration Project was in full swing last Saturday during the annual Alhambra Cemetery’s Spring Cleanup.  Thanks to our hard working volunteers, much was accomplished.  Beyond the usual clearing of debris, we leveled Nikolaos Glaros’s base in preparation for his headstone installation and cleaned Chinese-American Funerary Burner brick.

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​Martinez’s own Sean Dexter, renowned archaeologist and anthropologist from Country Condor Consulting, Inc., brought a screen for sifting soil.  He checked for any artifacts or pieces of bone that could affect our work.  To date nothing of note has been found.
 
Christian Rousset, a retired CA builder, stonemason, cutter and sculptor, oversaw the work on the burner with Sean, which we wrote about in our last column.  After apprenticing under a master artisan most of his youth, he spent the majority of his twenty’s traveling Europe restoring castles.  Once we have finished cleaning its bricks, he will be overseeing rebuilding the burner.  In future columns, we will be reporting our discoveries regarding its historic past and other findings.

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​Amy Currie and Dawn Curren lent a hand in removing old mortar from the brick burner.  Dawn, Chris, and we helped note and measure the burner before work began.  Kathleen Koehlmoos and Mary Lou Johnson cleared fallen branches, debris, and some weeds from last winter.  Both projects require a lot more work.

​Two articles ago we wrote about Nikolaos Glaros.  Raymond Wallace took care of fixing his base by clearing it of weeds and debris before securing and leveling it.  He also was able to level the headstone of another resident, Aaron Rice whom you will be reading about in future columns. 

Ray Wallace, Judie Palmer, Mary Lou Speaker-Johnson, Joseph Palmer, Sean Dexter, & in back Christian Rousset

​Judie & Joseph Palmer are two of the founding members of the Martinez Cemetery Preservation Alliance (MCPA) and the Potter’s Field Project.  Both have a passion for discovery, history, genealogy, anthropology and archaeology.  For more info, please visit our website MartinezCemetery.org. Do you have a Potter’s Field story to tell?  We welcome any pictures or information regarding the Alhambra Pioneer Cemetery or its Potter’s Field.  Please email us at martinezcemetery@gmail.com or call us at (925) 316-6069.