How I Used Photogrammetry To Fix A Headstone

[@deadiemeyers1661]

Preserving cemetery monuments and records is such an important contribution to genealogical research and family history efforts. Sincere thanks.

[@shamrock4500]

You have my respect. Repairing monuments is a work of love.

[@susanh3342]

Thank you for telling their story. We all need to remember.

[@gregdiamond6023]

That’s really cool. Getting to know the person. Not just straight up stone repair. I love history and am really glad this channel showed up in my shorts suggestions.

[@Paulie1232]

I love the back stories 😊

You should upload the composite photo to "Find a Grave", where it can be preserved forever-the future needs this info. So much hard work, Thanks for allowing me to tag along.

[@Guitcad1]

It's really sad what our industrial society has done to old monuments. I would never have guessed that was marble. From where I'm sitting I wouldn't be able to tell it apart from old concrete. I remember an old episode of Nova on PBS where they explored the ongoing restoration of the Parthenon. Early efforts in the 19th century used iron pins and, just like here, the pins rusted and expanded, destroying the stones they were set in. When the Parthenon was built in the 5th century BCE, the builders used wooden blocks instead to line up the stones. In the episode they showed them lifting a previously undisturbed "barrel" of marble from one of the temple's Doric columns and in the center they found one of he original 2,500 year-old wooden blocks that was perfectly preserved. They said they could even smell the wood.

[@HiddenOaksFarm]

I love the explanations on how and why you do it that way. Thanks

[@GraveAngels]

You are amazing! I was hired to restore a few old cemeteries in my area and this will help so much, huge thank you! 🙏

[@tamarasmith2267]

New subscriber here! I love the research you add while working. Much love from northern Indiana ❤️

[@lauriepalmer3593]

New subscriber here, western Massachusetts…. have always always been a lover of cemeteries memorials and monuments… I would love to be trained to do this… Also just an idea I thought it might be really special if you got yourself identification token that you could leave somewhere in the project safe for history for the next person to defined and be a little link back to you … I don’t know if a coin or plaque out of sight… the only person who would find it would be the next repair person in hundreds more years…..

[@ulexite-tv]

What a great idea! Or a link to Find-A-Grave.

[@marys7953]

I love watching you fix these monuments and the description of how they should be properly fixed.

[@leeannegroomes2581]

Beautiful work!

[@kathleendenison8925]

Awesome ❤, ty for your preservation of these headstones... beautiful...ur awesome

[@Imjetta7]

This is awesome, thank you for your work! I’ll add my witness about uploading the composite photo to Find a Grave; someday his family will want this info.

[@SleepyCircuitBoard]

Fascinating!

[@LadyBella63]

Hey, I recently started watching your channel, and I appreciate how respectful you are of the resting places of the people you talk about. I think that's great. I love how you give the viewers a little history about the person. I live in Maryland and there is a church in Fulton, St. Paul's Lutheran has some very old graves of all different shapes and styles

[@patbarlen2764]

Thank you for your work. Fascinating.

[@jontaylor6068]

Great information. I’m planning to do my grandmothers side of the family that is buried in Shenandoah National Park. But I have rules and regulations about cleaning it out since it’s an archeological.

[@nikikeya939]

Okay but did you do anything to restore the inscription with the pictures? And what about that shard of headstone you found?

[@behappy2435]

You are so inspiring and a blessing! Thank you for all you do. GOD BLESS 🙏🏼

[@Lucinda_Jackson]

That was a pretty one with the pink and white marble. The taller ones add so much to the mix of stones in a cemetery. I'd forgotten about the photogrammetry you showed us last year. Thanks for another example. It's truly amazing how the shadows can be "read" and the gaps filled in visually so we're able to read it. I'm curious - do you provide a photo of the image to the cemetery for their records? Or is that something they couldn't really accommodate, storage-wise? Thank you for another job beautifully done!

[@danielcovel6236]

Thank you ….and for the important to clean all surfaces

[@ruadhscottygirl2480]

I wish you wouldn’t leave us hanging! What was the inscription? What happened to the tombstone sherd? Isn’t there another finial on the top of the column? Answers please!

[@millennialstonecleaner]

The finial is unfortunately missing as is common. It is a simplistic inscription with what appears to be 3 circles at the top or potentially a tree pattern. Line by line is as follows: Philip Ganz BORN MAR 15 1836 DIED JAN 17 1880

[@Lucinda_Jackson]

12:36

[@ruadhscottygirl2480]

@@millennialstonecleaner Thank you!

[@darkpoet3174]

Those 3 circles at the top indicate he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. That is their symbol. 3 chain links together.

[@ulexite-tv]

@@darkpoet3174 I was just going to say that! The three links of chain of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows symbolize Friendship, Love, and Truth. Sometimes the initials F.L.T. appear in or under the three links, and sometimes you will see the initials I.O.O.F. as well.

[@DaGuz24]

Great work! Would love to hear more about this photogrammetry software and whether it’s an available service! There’s a few headstones in my local cemeteries I’ve been trying to figure out. I usually try and just take photos at different angles and catch the sunlight and shadows. Sometimes that’s not possible.

[@joylynnburkhardt3202]

Awesome!

[@RowieSundog]

Would you consider creating a copy of the inscription digitally cleaned up and etched into a stone to lay beside this monument? That way all who see it can read the original

[@diamond6256]

OUTSTANDING

[@bensonwills946]

How do you decide when to use pratley and when to use regular epoxy?

[@cyndifoore7743]

I love your work. I have always been drawn to cemeteries and wondered if and how these heads were cleaned and repaired. I am older but I could inquire about cleaning some locally. Have you ever visited the historic cemeteries in Salem Mass? It’s amazing with the angel stones.

[@lindaelick6067]

That photo…..was cool, is there away to actually make that visible on the stone itself again??

[@strike4n]

What did the inscription say?

[@millennialstonecleaner]

It is a simplistic inscription with what appears to be 3 circles at the top or potentially a tree pattern. Line by line is as follows: Philip Ganz BORN MAR 15 1836 DIED JAN 17 1880

[@Lucinda_Jackson]

12:36

[@beckysnead8914]

Please include how much money such a service would cost so others can consider having this done for their family memorials. Also, what could be sprayed on the stones or concrete to deter mold?

[@stur.7502]

As far as your locating pins go, research body and fender slide hammers for pulling the old pins, go through your procedural cleaning process of the bores then use a short length of copper grounding rod that can be cemented back into the bores ie....fine ground washed stone dust and polyester resin for a bonding resin. Polyester sets off in 20 minutes and will last a life time. You may even want to experiment with the mixture for cosmetic repairs.

[@johnstiteler4088]

How do you determine if you'll use monument putty and/or epoxy between sections of a monument?

[@millennialstonecleaner]

Its location and how toppleable it is. I don’t use a lot of epoxy, on fractures, certainly, and something narrow and tall like this, also yes.

[@brandon7482]

He was a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity, as indicated by the 3 rings on his headstone

[@SootHead]

Must you get permission to do this kind of work? Do you find 'needy' graves and fix them up, or do families make requests. I ask because I have a relative in a cemetary nearby that needs a little help. I am willing and capable of doing the work (leaning headstone).

[@brooke6286]

To do the extensive repairs that's he's doing? I'd imagine that you do need permission. I doubt cemetery caretakers would be OK with a random person bringing all that equipment in and actually digging into the grave. But you can probably do little things like cleaning up the surrounding area or scrubbing headstones.

[@Travis25601]

I keep wondering where all of the trees are green and the lawn is lush in March 😏

[@noeraldinkabam]

Acid rain washed away so much through the years.

[@shomron0]

nice

[@marvinhaines9297]

The three links indicate he was an Odd Fellow.

[@ulexite-tv]

Yes. We find many of those around where i live Three links and the initials F.L.T. for Friendship, Love, Truth -- the motto of the International Order of Odd Fellows.

[@CaptchaNeon]

Is there anyway for you to restore a similar lettering on the stone? Now that you know the info?

[@AVB2-LST1154]

What is the product that you mixed up on the paper plate and put in between the stones. I have a broken in half Civil War soldier's grave stone that I want to put back together.

[@jamesewilliams1900]

Is this a Christian cemetery? Was just curious because the red granite headstones were facing in different directions right next to where you were working.

[@samanthab1923]

Why so much acidic rain there?

[@amygreene259]

What are you using in this video to clean that stone? 🤔

[@barbarakosloski9260]

Does anybody know what it said on the monument? I cannot.

[@rpike1225]

1:50 Who goes jogging in a cemetery???

[@Lucinda_Jackson]

I think a fair number of people do. It's quiet,pretty, safe, no traffic, etc...

[@volvo09]

​@@Lucinda_Jackson I used to walk around with my electric RC cars, and ride my bike in the cemetery... Never meant any disrespect, stayed away from people visiting, and it was always interesting to find hidden old graves, and very disturbing to find when people came in and toppled graves since it was such a nice place. Only trouble I ever had was from punk kids up to no good. I spent a lot of my childhood in the cemetery. It's not just for family.

[@bukka6697]

Meh, just cremate me. I always notice when I drive by cemeteries that the vast majority of tombstones are just forgotten relics of people nobody remembers. One or two generations out, nobody pays them any mind anymore. It just seems so futile, like Ozymandias' "shattered visage" in Shelley's poem.

[@cindyrissal3628]

But you never know when a descendant will trace their roots & come visit...then these old stones are so valuable... touchstones to their heritage...

[@ulexite-tv]

Find another You Tube channel to follow, then. This one is certainly not suitable for you! 🧿

[@bukka6697]

@@ulexite-tv Nah, I think I'll stick around here and trigger you more.

[@kendawa2918]

False title. No photogrammetry done.

[@marymadsen8287]

12:20 it is done and explained

[@elizabethnisotis334]

Obviously you didn’t watch the full video. Not only did he show taking the pictures, but he also showed what the results were. SMH

[@rickardo5529]

Thumbs down watched thinking id be seeing a grand reveal and you show the top of it with bad drone drone footage