Hubbard / Hill Cemetery Restoration

Before and after photos of headstone for Louie Hubbard.

We've just completed a 5 week long restoration of the historic Hubbard / Hill private cemetery at Hills Prairie Plantation near Bastrop, TX for David & Libby Sartain. Libby's great-great-grandfather A.W. Hill built the adjacent Greek Revival plantation style home in 1857 that is undergoing an extensive 2 year long restoration now. I first got to know the Sartains doing architectural work (while with another restoration firm) for the old house and a subsequent guesthouse and pool addition for the property. Several other solo projects with David followed including a facade restoration of Maxine's On Main cafe in downtown Bastrop. It was recently named one of Texas' top small town cafes by Texas Monthly magazine and has a killer veggie burger and homemade pie to back that up.

The old cemetery was always one of my favorite spots on their place. There are 39 graves underneath an incredible 400 year old oak tree. The earliest dates from 1848 and the "newest" is from 1914. Three years later I approached them about doing a survey and then restoration of the cemetery knowing that they wanted to do it but probably didn't know who to get to do the work. Lots of digging, heavy lifting, detective work, and nearly 50 sacks of concrete later we are pretty proud of the end result and they seem very pleased too. Plenty of research assured that all the proper methods and materials were used including biocide cleaners, mastic tape to set bases, and epoxy systems with high strength nylon dowels to join broken fragments. The site will be listed with the Texas Historical Commission as a Historic Texas Cemetery. The family plans to have an informal rededication of the cemetery soon and will spread ashes from a recently passed aunt. A new columbarium installation using the same materials as the old cemetery is in the works. Libby Sartain has also done an amazing job of documenting the restoration of Hills Prairie Plantation on her blog called "Quest to Reclaim Hill's Prairie".

Before and after photos of cemetery monuments:

An 1890's cast iron component fence and gates are being rebuilt and will be installed around the entire perimeter of the cemetery and then will be incorporated into the landscape master plan for the property.