A work group formed earlier this year to restore the historic Demersville Cemetery is bringing in a nationally known gravestone conservator to conduct a daylong workshop Tuesday at the cemetery south of Kalispell.

Jonathan Appell of Hartford, Conn., has been helping communities preserve gravestones and monuments since 1987. His workshop will provide hands-on training from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Appell will demonstrate gravestone repair with the help of workshop attendees and will talk about how to reset and conserve monuments and how to properly care for and clean gravestones.

The workshop is sponsored by the Montana Historical Society and Museums Association of Montana.

A walkabout and tour of the cemetery will be held today from 9 to 11:30 a.m. The gathering is open to anyone interested in Demersville Cemetery.

Demersville Cemetery, the oldest known cemetery in the Flathead Valley, is one of three cemeteries Appell will focus on during his trip to Montana. He also will visit Benton Avenue Cemetery in Helena and Mountain View Cemetery in Columbus.

Flathead County Commissioner Cal Scott organized the work group for Demersville Cemetery in January.

A group of about 20 people met to begin focusing on maintenance and record-keeping needs and charting a course for ongoing maintenance.

Demersville Cemetery has been neglected over the years. Tombstones are snarled in overgrown bushes and there are missing and incomplete records.

The first recorded burial there was in 1888. The county has administered it since 1893.

The methods of selling lots changed several times, with records sometimes kept on index cards and other times on maps. There are several cemetery lot maps, all with different configurations.

A lapse in record-keeping that began in the late 1920s resulted in some gravesites accidentally being opened for burials in later years because the plot wasn’t marked as used, indicating it was supposed to be empty.

“We want to create an entity for ongoing maintenance,” Scott said, “and we want to structure the outreach to create historical value where people can do self-guided tours.”

Scott said some satellite imaging has been completed, showing ground disturbance, but no matching records.

“We think a lot of this is from the early Asian community in Kalispell. There doesn’t seem to be records,” he said.

After an organizational meeting in January, the group split into four work groups, Scott said. The preservation effort was put on hold while county officials dealt with the primary election and then the summer months made it difficult to move forward.

“We’re now back at it again full force,” Scott said.

He hopes the group can create bylaws and complete a planning workbook he helped compile to assist in creating goals and strategies for the long-term maintenance of Demersville Cemetery.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.