The Roy Historical Cemetery will be the 27th stop on Atlas Preservations’ annual 48-state tour, in which the business hosts free preservation workshops to restore graveyards around the country.
Atlas Preservation, a company based in Southington, Connecticut, will visit Roy from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday, July 3, for an event that is free to the public to attend. Attendees can participate in gravestone cleaning and learn the most common, safe and effective repair and cleaning techniques.
Atlas Preservation will also be filming the workshops at their stops across the country for a documentary. The Roy Historical Cemetery is the only site in Washington to be included.
The Roy Historical Cemetery, located at 8211 288th St. S., often orders its cleaning supplies from Atlas Preservation, so owner Beth King was familiar with the company. She saw a Facebook post looking for nominations for the next 48-state tour, and she nominated her cemetery, which was then selected.
“It’s pretty important. They felt that we were a good choice for the variety of classes they’ll teach,” King said. “We’ve got cleaning, leveling, repair, restoration. We’ve got something of everything for them.”
In preparation for the event, the Roy Historical Cemetery is inviting community members to help mow, weed eat and sweep off headstones from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 29. The cemetery will also raise and level headstones. King and the staff will also choose headstones to be restored during the tour on July 3.
“I hope we just get the recognition that we and all the cemeteries are working to preserve history because there are cemeteries out there that nobody takes care of that are old. We don’t want to be one of those. We’re still an active cemetery. We’re still actively burying people,” King said. “We just want to make sure that everything is as protected as we can by restoring the old headstones and making sure they’re safe to be around and look nice.”
The Roy Historical Cemetery recommends bringing water, snacks, chairs and appropriate clothing to the event on July 3. For more information, email roycemeterywa@gmail.com.
