‘Granite Gardens’ Uncovers and Restores Alpena’s History

What started as a safe activity during the COVID–19 pandemic has turned into a bigger mission for the group in Alpena called Granite Gardens.

They do research on Alpena’s history, hoping to uncover it, restore it, and make sure it’s never forgotten.

“As we were walking around, we noticed that some stones were looking rather worse for wear, where we can’t see names, we don’t know who these people are, so we started investigating how to remedy that, and that’s how Granite Gardens got started,” said Amanda Kuznicki, co-founder of Granite Gardens.

They did research on how to clean a gravestone; it takes elbow grease, agricultural soap, and nothing metal as that would damage the stone even further.

In order to begin restoring a gravestone, they first contact the family to get permission, and then begin cleaning once they receive it.

“We get a lot of interest in like, ‘hey, we’ve got this family plot, it happens to be a stone that really needs repair,’ and we’ll absolutely go there and work with the family to make these stones look brand new,” sad Kuznicki.

The idea behind restoring the historical sites and preserving Alpena’s history comes from the fact they believe there is not a lot of well–known history in Alpena.

“We like to talk about Alpena, and it’s a great town, and it’s a town that’s been pretty much under the radar as far as Michigan history, and we just feel we have something to offer, and we’re going to try to bring Alpena to the light,” said Mike Phillips, co-founder of Granite Gardens.

Granite Gardens is planning on conducting tours throughout the summer around Alpena talking about Sheriff Charles Lynch, who was murdered in Alpena in the late 1800s.

“It was sad that he just went by the wayside and never got a tombstone, was never memorialized, and generally when people speak of this incident, they talk about Blinky Morgan, the guy who killed him, and we hope to change that,” said Phillips.

Granite Gardens is hoping to uncover more historical figures in the area, because they believe there are many more stories to tell.

If you would like to contact Granite Gardens to learn more, email granitegardens49707@gmail.com.