Robert Monteath is buried next to Robert Erskine. Monteath died in 1778, Erskine in 1780. Therefore it is possible that Erskine chose the location and stone for Monteath. Then, when Erskine died, he was buried in the same manner next to Monteath. It is probable that Elizabeth Erskine, his wife, chose the location. All that we know of Monteath is that he, like Erskine, was born in Scotland. He was clerk to Erskine and ran the ironworks and manor while Erskine was intelligence gathering for George Washington.

	The tomb of Robert Monteath (clerk to Robert Erskine) has been deteriorating gradually for many years. This last winter, however, the process began to speed up.
	This sandstone tombstone was made during the Revolutionary war. Although the script has deteriorated, the viewer can get a sense of how different stonecarving was in those days - almost like handwriting.
	The first step was to carefully remove the historic tombstone and transport it to storage. The plan is to re-create the original style of stonecarving on a new, granite tombstone.
	Originally the stones were lying on the ground. In the 19th century, the Hewitt family had brick bases built and replaced Erskine's tombstone with a more modern version (for the times). Erskine's tomb (to the right) was restored again in 1985 by the North Jersey Highlands Historical Society. It has a granite slab stone with standard font face letters.
	The next step was to replace the brick base and cement grounding. The base has to be solid to withstand freezing and thawing and support the slab stone. Here the masons are using a mixture of used bricks, original bricks and cement to create a solid base.
	In an attempt to preserve the style of 18th century tombstone engraving, we are copying the old-style lettering, mistakes and all. One oddity was that there were no dots on the "i"s. Since the stone is over 200 years old, we thought maybe they were covered by lichens, so we scrubbed the surface. There were no dots on the "i"s, but there were letters and even words that we had not previously seen.

The restoration is not yet complete. The slab tombstone has just been sandblasted and will be placed on the completed masonry within a few days. This December, near the anniversary of his death, we will have a ceremony commemorating the life of Robert Monteath (even though, like the Unknown Soldier, we don't know much about him).