Volunteers will have an opportunity later this month to help restore the final resting place of some of Coupeville’s original settlers.

This year’s Ebey’s Preservation Field School will focus on cleaning and repairing headstones at Sunnyside Cemetery. The school runs 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, July 25 through Friday, July 29.

The school was started in 2008 to provide hands-on training in preservation practice for community members of Central Whidbey Island. Now in its ninth year, field school volunteers have committed thousands of hours in community service restoring barns, military structures, houses and even Coupeville’s wharf. This will be the first field school focusing on cemetery restoration.

“The overall goal is to have volunteers come away from the field school not only with a working knowledge of cemetery restoration practices and preservation standards, but with a broader understanding of Sunnyside’s context and importance within the reserve,” said Sarah Steen, preservation coordinator for Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve.

During the school, volunteers will be learning how to clean headstones using an architectural cleaning agent. There will also be a focus on landscaping around some of the older plots that are overgrown.

“It’s not the most glamorous project,” Steen said. “But because it is an emotional place, you become attached. It’s not a building, there are people here.”

Steen said the oldest known grave at the cemetery is from 1865 and will be part of the field school.

Priorities include cleaning markers and plots for well-known Coupeville names, including Ebey, Kellogg, Kineth, Lovejoy, Gillespie, Terry, Coupe, Cook and Donovan.

“The purpose of cleaning grave markers is not to return them to a ‘like new’ appearance,” Steen said. “Organic growth such as lichen, moss or fungus can cause deterioration of stone surfaces, and unmanaged plant growth can impact structural stabilization.”

Some masonry work will also be involved, including repairing concrete bases, using an epoxy to reattach broken pieces and curbing deterioration.

“Stones traditionally used as grave markers are more fragile than people realize,” Steen said. “Inappropriate cleaning methods can cause permanent damage to stone surfaces and speed the weathering process. Sunnyside markers have notably weathered the last 40 years, and we are fortunate we have records of some of the markers we can no longer read.”

In preparation for this year’s field school, Steen traveled to Kalaupapa National Historical Park on Molokai, Hawaii for training. She helped repair damaged markers at historic cemeteries within the park, which has been a colony for those suffering from Hansen’s Disease since 1865.

During the field school at Sunnyside, a different lunchtime lecturer will speak each day at noon.

Steen will kick off the series discussing 19th century funerary trends, grave marker forms, symbology and common materials.

“People were ordering markers from Sears,” Steen said. “Some of the oldest ones we know have markers from makers in Olympia and Port Townsend.”

Other speakers topics include settlement traditions regarding death, traditions and shifts in Skagit tribal burial practices, the community relationship to the cemetery, Sherman Family history with Sunnyside and the “known unknowns” of the cemetery.

While volunteers are working in the cemetery, another group will be simultaneously working on some repairs to the Jacob Ebey Blockhouse. Steen said some repairs need to be done to fix the second floor and replace the stairs.

Two four-hour shifts will be offered daily from 8 a.m. to noon, then from 1-5 p.m.

“We encourage people to work for whole shifts, but allow for schedule changes,” Steen said.

To sign up for the field school, contact Steen at 360-678-6084 or email her at sarah_steen@partner.nps.gov