SpringfieldNewsSun.com

Enon, Ohio — For more than a century, vandals have conspired with the vandal that is time to erase the names of Enon's earliest residents.

The Enon community will strike back at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 18 — rain or shine — when it dedicates two 3,000-pound gray granite markers that bear the names of those resting in the village's Muddy Run and Knob Prairie cemeteries.

Both markers will be dedicated at the Knob Prairie site at the rear of the Speedway SuperAmerica LLC headquarters, where parking is available.

"The vandalism in Knob Prairie was terrible," said Carol DeVore, a member of the Enon Community Historical Society board. Located in an area that was hidden from view for years, it was the perfect place for vandals to strike.

But what the vandals did not do, weathering did, eroding the surface and strength of the limestone, sandstone and marble markers, most made of stone found in the area.

Those stones used in the 19th and early 20th centuries were "easy to carve, soft to use, readily available," said Neil Fogarty, president of Dodds Monuments, which made the markers that will be dedicated Sunday.

But because all three stones are porous, they "tend to wick moisture," which then migrates through the stone to get to the surface," Fogarty said.

That leads to what's called spalling that weakened the surfaces to further erosion.

As a result, "many of the stones are unreadable," DeVore said.

In addition to the surface damage, the traditional tablet-shaped stones developed structural problems, Fogarty said.

"If a foundation starts to give way and it starts leaning, you can see they'll actually bow because of the weight on top of them," he said. "It doesn't take much to snap two or three inches of limestone."

Much more solid and impervious to weather are the granite monuments that will go atop foundations provided by the Mad River Twp. Trustees.

At 6 foot wide, 4 foot high and 8 inches thick with lettering sandblasted into both sides, the projected lifetime of the markers is up to 900 years.

Although directed by the ECHS the trustees, the $6,000 project couldn't have been undertaken without community support, DeVore said.

"It started with a grant from the Turner Foundation," then moved to a villagewide fundraising effort, she explained. "We had jars set out through the community. Restaurants, businesses, one of the banks — any place that would allow us."

Brenda Sweet, another ECHS board member has felt a personal stake in the project from the start.

"I have ancestors buried at Knob Prairie," she said.

Even though DeVore does not, "I'm hoping somebody somewhere else does this for my family."

Among the names that will appear on the new stones are Revolutionary War soldier Benjamin Bridge, Civil War soldier James A. Alt and War of 1812 veteran Melyn Baker.

"There were about 15 names that were so illegible, we didn't include them," Sweet said.

But time will not soon erase the rest.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0368 or tstafford@coxohio.com.

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