09/13/2026
Yesterday, the Colonel Josiah Smith Chapter kicked off our first meeting of the year with a special look at a project more than three years in the making: preserving the final resting place of our chapter’s namesake Patriot and his family.
Following our business meeting, members and guests learned more about Colonel Josiah Smith and the preservation work recently completed at the Colonel Josiah Smith Cemetery.
Our chapter first launched this initiative in May 2023, when members spent an afternoon at the cemetery learning how to properly clean historic gravestones, conducting hands-on cleaning, and documenting the headstones and footstones associated with the site’s 23 graves. What began that day has grown into a long-term commitment to preserving this important piece of local Revolutionary War history.
Over the past three and a half years, the project has included securing stewardship of the cemetery, pursuing grant funding, ongoing cleaning by chapter members, and professional preservation work.
Yesterday, Zachary Studenroth of the Burying Ground Preservation Group walked us through the preservation process and the work recently completed at the cemetery, including the restoration of Colonel Smith’s headstone. Members will continue caring for and cleaning the stones as our stewardship of the site moves forward.
This work was made possible through the generous support of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, along with matching funds from our chapter, and the expertise of Zachary Studenroth of the Burying Ground Preservation Group and Joel Snodgrass of Steward Preservation Services.
We’re proud of how far this project has come and excited about the work still to be done to continue preserving the resting place of our namesake Patriot and his family. 🇺🇸🪦
RDL Gardiner Foundation Town of Brookhaven
