Straight answers about cleaning, maintenance, plantings, and what any of it costs — no obligation to book anything.
Request a ServiceBefore You Call
Grave site care isn't something most people have had to arrange before, and there's no obvious place to look up how it works. These are the questions we field most often — about how stones get cleaned, how often it needs doing, and what to expect from a service.
If yours isn't here, call or send a note. We'll tell you what the site needs even if the answer is that it doesn't need much.
Stone Cleaning
Most stones look right for 12 to 24 months after a full cleaning. Coastal plots and heavily shaded, wooded plots green up faster and generally need attention every 12 to 18 months. Open, inland sites can often go closer to two years. Rather than guessing, we look at the specific stone and tell you what it actually needs.
D/2 is a biodegradable, pH-neutral cleaning solution designed for historic masonry. It's the same product used on national monuments and military cemeteries. It works by killing the lichen, algae, and moss growing in the stone rather than blasting it off the surface, so it's safe on granite, marble, slate, and sandstone alike.
The solution keeps working for weeks after it's applied. Biological growth breaks down gradually and weathers away, and a second and third application reach what the first pass didn't. A stone will continue to lighten well after we've finished. Anyone promising a fully restored stone in a single visit is using something aggressive enough to damage it.
Yes, and the damage is permanent. Pressure washing drives water into the stone and erodes the surface, taking carved lettering with it. Wire brushes scratch polished granite and shed metal that rusts into the stone. Household cleaners like bleach and vinegar leave salts behind that keep working long after rinsing. We don't use any of these.
They do. Many South Shore burying grounds hold thin slate and marble markers from the 1600s and 1700s. Those materials are softer and more fragile than modern polished granite, and some are unstable in the ground. On antique markers we check stability before touching the surface, work more slowly, and never use anything abrasive.
Cost & Plans
Stone cleaning starts at $75 and varies with the size and condition of the stone and whether it's polished or natural. There's a one-time stone-finding fee of $15 to $25 if we need to locate the plot. Additional memorials in the same plot cost less than the first, since we're already on site. We quote before starting — see full pricing.
A one-time cleaning restores the stone. An annual plan keeps it that way without you having to schedule anything. Plans run from two visits a year up to quarterly visits with seasonal plantings and flowers placed on dates you choose. Every plan begins from a completed full cleaning, which is quoted separately, so plan visits are upkeep rather than catch-up.
Cemeteries mow the lawn and maintain the grounds. They don't clean individual stones, clear debris from around foot stones and base edges, or place seasonal flowers. That has always been the family's responsibility — and it's the part that quietly stops happening when the family lives far away.
A portion of every service we perform goes to local veterans organizations and historical societies. The amount is printed directly on your receipt, so you can see exactly what your service contributed. If you'd like flags placed at a veteran's grave for Memorial Day or Veterans Day, ask and we'll arrange it.
Working With Us
Every service includes dated photographs showing the site as we found it and as we left it. If you'd like to see the site live, walk through a planting choice, or simply be present from a distance, we can set up a video call and walk the plot with you.
Always. Every cemetery sets its own regulations on what can be planted, how tall it can grow, how far it can extend from the stone, and when seasonal decorations must be removed. We work within them, so nothing we place is ever removed unexpectedly. Christmas wreath pricing includes the return visit to take it down.
We choose annuals and hardy perennials suited to USDA zones 6b–7a and to the specific plot — low, tidy growth that won't obscure the stone, and drought-tolerant varieties that hold up between visits. Tulips, daffodils, and pansies in spring; marigolds, zinnias, and vinca in summer; chrysanthemums in fall. For heavily shaded plots we use hosta, coral bells, or daylilies instead.
Give us the name, the cemetery, and any dates you have, and we'll locate it. There's a one-time stone-finding fee between $15 and $25 depending on how much searching it takes, and it only applies once.
Yes, and it usually costs less than booking them separately. If your family has plots across several South Shore towns, tell us where and we'll look at combining the visits. See the towns we serve.
Read More
Longer reference material on stone care, seasonal timing, and what our process actually looks like.
Tell us the cemetery and roughly where the plot is — we'll confirm we can reach it and walk you through what the site needs.
Request a Service (707) 653-6539