Wow, this one is neat! I do wish that this grave was a bit more maintained and cleaned though, it's a shame it's left with moss all over and high-standing grass

1. Often the grass near gravestones is left high because the mowers used in cemeteries might damage the stones if they come too close.
2. Lichen is very much a problem in the Plympton yard, sadly. This stone is actually one of the better preserved stones there by far.

Ooo, thank you for educating me! However, I start to wonder:

1. How come they don't just hand-trim the grass around the bottoms of the stones?
2. Wouldn't Wet & Forget Outdoor do a good job of helping with the lichen problem? Apparently, once applied, Wet & Forget starts to work on the surface and then over time will remove the dead lichen with exposure to the wind and rain. I wonder if that would damage the tombstones however?

1. I've seen weed whackers used in some cases.
2. D2 (biodegradable lichen killer) works wonders. But it's ~$50 per gallon, and not every town has the budget to provide for that.
The town of Rehoboth, MA did restore their yard ~2y
ago, to use a positive example.
Dennis, MA, did one of their yards last year as well. But other towns just leave their yards to go to pot except for cutting the grass.

Thank you so much for the clarification! It's very insightful to see these types of responses, that way I can understand better. I sincerely hope that town budgets everywhere, someday, can afford to pay the price to maintain these beautiful pieces of commemorative art. At least, that's how I see headstones!

It's a little choppy after almost 300 years -- died in his 19^th year?