After her marriage broke up and she endured a child custody battle, Alicia Williams needed peace. She wanted to scrape away the old and begin anew.
So she started with gravestones.
Millions of people now watch her Instagram and TikTok videos of gravestone cleanings near her home in Virginia.
With permission, she finds blackened 100-year-old grave markers and restores them. First, she strips away dirt and debris with a plastic scraper. Then using an approved restoration agent, she scrubs them using a soft brush. Finally, she sprays the stones using her portable gentle water sprayer.
The results are astonishing. Gravestones that were blackened with a century of detritus glisten white and once again tell the story of the people buried there. Williams researches the people to learn their stories.
In one stone, we meet Josephine, who died at age four after her dress caught fire during a normal day in Nov. 1903. "A little child shall lead them," the inscription reads.
Search Instagram or TikTok for Lady Taphos.
