By Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

The Brighton Area Historical Society has been accorded a significant honor as the recipient of the Community Award from the Michigan Historic Preservation Network for the restoration of the Old Village Cemetery.

The circa 1838 cemetery is located behind St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, on the banks of the Mill Pond in downtown Brighton.

The historical group’s president, Jim Vichich, announced the award at the April 6th City Council meeting. Vichich told council members that the award will be formally presented to the society at the state organization’s annual meeting May 12th on Mackinac Island.

Vichich says he is appreciative of the recognition from the Michigan Historic Preservation Network. He tells WHMI, “We are very grateful for the award to restore the historical cemetery…This award is in recognition of a job well done.”

Members of the 18-person Headstone Restoration Team meet on the 4th Monday of the month from June to October each year to perform their very exacting restoration work.

Vichich says the group plans to complete the restorations sometime this summer. He says it’s been a long and sometimes difficult journey for the preservation group. He gave council a rundown on the man-hours and other stats involved in the restoration process:

While cleanup of the old cemetery grounds began in 2009, the actual restoration didn’t begin until 2012 since the members had to undergo professional training in how to restore old headstones. Through 2022, the group has spent 3,145 hours on repairing and restoring 163 broken headstones, along with removing and resetting another 240-plus headstones that were leaning over or partially buried.

Vichich thanked the city of Brighton for its help over the years and particularly city Dept. of Public Services Director Marcel Goch and his staff for their assistance. He also thanked Michigan Chapter 5 of Rolling Thunder, former city manager Dana Foster and current City Manager Gretchen Gomolka, DDA Board Chairman Tim Corrigan, St. Paul Episcopal Church on the Millpond, local Cub and Boy Scouts, the Charyl Stockwell Academy Honor Society, and the Organization of The Questers, for what he called their "invaluable assistance."