UA Engineering Students Restore Antebellum Mausoleum

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Several metallurgical and materials engineering students at The University of Alabama are donating their time and skills to help restore a pre-Civil War mausoleum to its original state.

The elaborate 20 by 20 foot structure, located in Tuscaloosa’s Evergreen Cemetery next to Bryant-Denny Stadium, was built in 1859 by Dr. Simeon J. Eddins. Although the tomb no longer houses any remains, a marker serves as a remembrance to Eddin’s brother-in-law, a Confederate soldier once buried there. Due to weather and age, much of the building’s iron trim and window centerpieces had been damaged and deteriorated, robbing it of its historic features.

Betsy Hayslip, executive director of the Heritage Commission of Tuscaloosa County and current owner of the mausoleum, suggested its restoration as a “hands-on” project for engineering students to Dr. Garry Warren, professor of metallurgical and materials engineering at UA.

“I think that the mausoleum is a treasure to Tuscaloosa,” said Hayslip. “And I wanted to show the community what wonderful artistic things the engineering students at The University of Alabama could do.”

Warren helped organize a group of students to undertake the restoration, including members of the student chapters of three engineering societies: the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society; AMS International; and the American Foundrymen’s Society. He has also served as their faculty adviser for the project.

They are working to restore two main elements of the building – the decorative iron window trimmings and the iron icicles that hung from the roof of the building.

“We are completely remaking the window centerpieces and the trim,” said Warren. “To do this, we took one of the centerpieces and used it to make a mold. We also made a mold of the icicle trim that hangs down from the roof – this we made from the last original piece that remained.”

Students are casting the pieces in the College’s Farabee Metal Casting Laboratory by pouring molten iron into molds of the iron trim, to create new, accurate replicas. The pieces are being made from gray iron, or cast iron, which was the material used for the original trim.

“This project is certainly over and above what students do in their required classes,” said Warren. “Each student that is working on this does so in their extra time.”

And along with getting to participate in preserving the community’s history, the students are also gaining some practical experience in making cast iron parts, he added.

The restoration started a year ago, and is expected to be completed by the beginning of the summer. “This is still a work in progress,” said Warren, “but it won’t be much longer now before this historic landmark looks the way it should.”

Note to Reporters and Editors: Photographs to accompany this release are available by e-mail from Janice Fink at jfink@coe.eng.ua.edu.