I’ve been wondering about who owns the little plot of land most of us end up in after this life. Seems logical a deceased individual can’t own anything, including the grave he is in, but someone has to. He paid money to rest in that little area under that tree overlooking the valley and something must protect his right to rest there until the the end of the universe.
A little Googling just adds more questions to this question. He or she acquires a privilege, Easement, or license to make burials in the purchased plot, exclusive of all other people, provided that the land remains a cemetery.
Also;
*Abandonment is the only way in which the use of land as a cemetery may cease. It takes place either by removal of all the interred bodies or by neglect to such a degree that the property is no longer identifiable as a cemetery. *
So, if someone pays for a plot, and 150 years later it’s a weed covered mess, they can remove the bodies and build a shopping center there? Not that I’d care, but getting evicted like this seems inconsistent with the eternal rest one pays for. It also seems the cemetery owner can “move” all the bodies to some other location and declare that it is no longer a cemetery?
Not in the UK anyway. I think (from memory) that no grave has to be less than 100 years old, but after all the legal formalities are done, the graveyard can be dug up and any remains properly disposed of.
In the news just now is the cemetery at Bedlam (Originally Bethlehem Asylum) in London. They are building a new underground railway and the bones of 4,000 skeletons will be disinterred and studied before being reburied elsewhere.
I have to go to my stepmother’s burial soon. She bought the multi-plot plot that her ex-husband was buried in decades ago. (2 plots, 3 layers, plus four urns at the head). My late step-sister and step-uncle will also be interred (? in-urned?) there. Ironically, the ownership of the plot, since it’s part of her estate, passes to her husband my father, even though none of the occupants is any blood relative. It appears the “ownership” or rights to the plot are simple property that can be inherited.
However, I’m gathering this is not land ownership in the classical sense. “Owning the plot” simply means the right to use the area as designated in a contract. I assume actual land title to the entire cemetery belongs to some corporation who manages the land, and certain laws about burial plus contract obligations are what matters to prevent simply digging up the coffins and putting in a shopping mall. I’m sure a real lawyer will chime in about how long the contractual obligation lasts, as I recall there was no such thing as a perpetual contract?
In northern Virginia there are many little family grave plots all over the place from the days when people had plots out behind the house, or behind the tiny neighborhood church. A hundred years later, the house or church is gone, but you can still see gravestones. Some of them are on suburban corners of intersections now. I think they’re very curious.
In most European countries, the common way is to lease the grave site from whoever operates the cemetery, which is usually the local municipality. The property remains with the municipality. The lease, which is either of a contractual nature or governed by a special statute for these purposes, goes for a pre-defined period, which may be renewable, and upon expiry the remains are removed and the same plot leased out to someone else (i.e., the family of a deceased; the deceased himself can, of course, not be a lessee). Definitely not for eternity.
In a little town in Michigan (which I won’t identify because I don’t want to annoy my family which is still upset about the situation), construction workers found a body that had been buried over a century ago on land which used to belong to my mother’s family. Family records indicate that it was, well, a certain family member of mine. However, there was apparently no gravestone–thrifty folks, my ancestors–and so the remains were taken to, I believe, a university which was trying to make sure he wasn’t a Native American, in which case, they would be turned over to a tribe.
I heard about this years ago. I’ll check with Mom to see if they ever returned the remains.
In the 1930’s all civilian graves in San Francisco were excavated and the remains transferred to the “wide open” land in Colma (just south of Daly City).
So there is now a trivia question: what CA town has more dead people than live ones?
That’s not how it’s done in the US. We’ve got a system that “purchasing” a burial plot grants effectively eternal resting rights. The maintenance and upkeep of the cemetary and grounds is paid for by investing the proceeds (from sale of the plots) in various funds and accounts (as chosen by the cemetary owner).
As I understand it, very few (if any) other countries have a similar system.
There’s an old cemetery in the middle of suburbia across from Wakefield Chapel, which is still standing but is no longer used as a church.
There is, or used to be, a cemetery on the corner of Little River Turnpike and Guinea Road. I remember there was a protest over its removal, so it may be gone now.
The cemetery at Christ Church Episcopal in Old Town Alexandria is not abandoned or overgrown by any means, but it’s quite old and has quite a story. Ask one of the priests there. Seems that during the Civil War, some bored US Army (Union) soldiers decided to deface some of the graves with ridiculous misinformation. The church refuses to undo the damage as it considers it history and something not to be further disturbed. Anyone who questions what is written can go in and ask.
One I can remember quickly is the corner of Church Road and Cascades Parkway in Sterling. If you pull it up on Google Maps, you can’t really see the headstones in satellite view, but you can with Street View. Look quickly, though, they seem to be digging up the graves lately so I think developers are going to convert the property to commercial real estate when the weather allows.
I was involved a few years ago in moving a buried Civil War soldier here in Arizona. His grave was in a trailer park, which was scheduled to be developed. A grass roots group of people dug him up, built a new coffin, and reburied him with honors in the local municipal cemetery.
Sure it is; it points out that the occupants have limited property rights- i.e. you can use that plot only as a grave, not build a particularly small McDonald’s on it.
Then a little further down, it goes on to say that abandonment is the only reason that a cemetery can stop being used as a cemetery.
What that means in practical terms is that if there’s some 150 year old cemetery that nobody living actually owns in a practical sense, or maintains - it’s just a plot of land that the city or county essentially owns that happens to have graves on it, then it can be sold and reused. However, if that land’s still being used as a cemetery with a company owning and operating it, or a civic/historical association maintaining it, then it can’t be reused.
Essentially it comes down to the idea that if nobody’s around to fight for it, the local government can reuse that land. I mean, I don’t even know who all my ancestors of 150 years ago are, and nor do I have the wherewithal to go sue people and defend their gravesites in court, and I suspect that most people of 150 years ago have the same issue, especially in what were small rural cemeteries. (although quite a few are still maintained and restored; I have a friend who makes a good living in old cemetery restoration)
I’ve been reliably(?) informed that the cemetery where my grandfather was buried is now part of a housing development and that my grandfather’s headstone is located in someones back yard----how likely is that story to be true?
No, I don’t. The cemetery was located in Grand Prairie, Texas and that’s all I know. It’s not a burning issue with me and the cousin who told me the story is now deceased. It just seemed out of the ordinary if true.
Might be able to spot it in Google Maps satellite view if you know enough detail to zoom into it. Also assuming there aren’t any trees blocking the view.
I’m skeptical, though. Nobody in their right mind would want some stranger’s headstone in their back yard. The grave was likely relocated. Didn’t we all learn from watching Poltergeist?
Most municipalities consider cemeteries, as well as swimming pools and airports, to be ‘loss leaders’, in that they generally operate at an annual loss but add to the quality of life.