Repainting the Bunker Hill Monument's 1870 Iron Fence, One Side a Year

The Student Conservation Association Massachusetts Historic Preservation Corps (SCA HPC) has been restoring the wrought-iron fence around the Bunker Hill Monument, giving it a new coat of paint to bring it back to its original quality. The work began in 2023, with each year's crew repainting one of the fence's four sides. By 2024, two sides were done, and the project is due to finish in 2026.

The monument and its fences

The monument stands on Breed's Hill, where the Battle of Bunker Hill — one of the earliest battles of the Revolutionary War — was fought. Built from 1825 to 1842, it honors the soldiers who fought there.

The Bunker Hill Monument in the mid-1800s, before today's fence. Boston Public Library.

More on building the monument and on efforts to preserve it.

The work

Over time the fence's paint has worn away, letting rust and other damage set in. Before repainting, the fence had turned from black to a weathered dark grey, and parts were covered in lichen. Each year's crew follows the same steps:

1. Remove loose paint: take off anything chipping.
2. Scuff the old paint: paint sticks better to a rough surface, so the crew works over the fence with wire pads, steel wool, wire brushes, and a drill with a steel brush attachment. Crew members wear hard hats, gloves and masks.
3. Wash: a TSP solution, a cleaning agent, removes built-up grime and dirt.
4. Prime: a rust-colored, anti-rust primer goes on bare metal and rusty spots, to stop rust spreading.
5. Topcoat: a thick coat of black paint finishes each section.

A finished section shows the fence's design again: decorative pillars at each end, bars between them whose tips alternate between straight and triangular spikes, and a floral pattern along the bottom.

Sources

Based on "Restoring Bunker Hill's Fence," National Park Service, Boston National Historical Park, contributed by Greg Bsales of the SCA Historic Preservation Corps and citing Kristen Heitert, Archaeological Assessment and Overview: Bunker Hill Monument (2009); a work of the United States government in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words. The source's photographs of the crew and the fence are the Student Conservation Association's and are not reproduced.