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About 10-15 years ago, I worked for a company doing construction for the state of MA, and we got a lot of contracts dealing with roadways and such. One day we were working in a sleepy old suburb of Boston on a very old street. We dug up the modern asphalt, and got down to old brick pavers and such, and some really old brickwork construction. Well 10 feet or so below street level we hit upon a vault! I didn't get to see it myself personally, but I was told there was 4-5 skeletons with old muskets buried with them.
The vault got sealed back up, the work completed and the street was repaved over. Not much was really said about what was found. Every time I drive over that spot, can't help think of what lies underneath.
Here's where I like to tell people that Phillipa Langley, a historian, figured out King Richard III was buried in a Leicester parking lot....
Your friend is lying to you. VA law does not grant unrestricted access to the grave. The land transfers to the new owners and so does the bodies and graves. Unless there was an agreement at purchase to have unrestricted access, family must request permission in advance, get permission, and respect all restriction of the visit placed on them. Landowners are required to be provide access and be reasonable in prohibitions and restrictions, but they certainly are not forced to provide unrestricted access. So I call your friend a BSer about this. Now, if they gave such permission when they bought the property, that's not the law, that was their stupidity.
VA Code Title 57, Chapter 3, Section 57-27.1
Bingo! Land transfer laws may vary but on that they're fairly conventional. If a family graveyard forms part of a survey that is offered for sale and you buy it. You own the graves in the same sense you own the buildings etc., on the property and unless the plot has been deemed of some sort of historical significance and given a special designation or granted a permanent easement requiring the graves remain intact, you could relocate the graves and tell the folks arriving to visit......"because you would not co-operate, your family is now residing on that old hay wagon over there. I move them around when cutting the lawn. They seem to enjoy the ride as I haven't heard them complain yet." "This Halloween I'm gonna open the caskets and charge two bucks a pop for a selfie with any of them to help pay for their upkeep." "OR, you could make me an offer."
I'm exaggerating as to what leeway you can exercise regarding the dis-interring of a human's remains but you get the gist of what I'm trying to imply.
Any obligation to you would be as the result of some special codicil in the offer of sale that you might have unwittingly signed without reading in detail, otherwise, in "MOST" instances, the transfer of deed says it all; you own 'em; lock, stock and rib bones.
On a suburban-sized property, with the graves near the house? No. Not because I care about graves or ghosts, but because I don't want to be constrained in the use of my property. I know I'd feel tentative about excavating a new sewer line or french drain, not knowing where or how deep something was buried. Buried dogs or cats? Since they are not embalmed or in a casket (hopefully), the problem solves itself within a few years
As someone mentioned upthread: not on a larger property but not because of the graves themselves. It's the legal issues and potential liability that I wouldn't be interested in. I don't want to have to deal with the family and I don't want the hassle and legal issues if something happens, such as: massive water leak floods part of the property, exposing (or potentially exposing) graves. Am I responsible for re-interment and clean-up?
Really depends on the size of the property and where the grave is located. If its off in the corner, fine. But if I have to look at it up close every time we barbecue, probably not.
lol, this exactly. If the property was very large and it was in an area rarely seen then I wouldn't think much about it. If it was in a central area in the backyard, would most definitely not buy.
No. I don't mind pets buried in the garden, but draw the line at people... It would freak me out a bit, plus I wouldn't really want to see an actual plot with headstone etc.. I guess if it was a huge property & some distance from the house & main garden area it wouldn't be so bad, but I'd rather not
Ive just been reading how easy it is to be buried on your own land, distance from water sources and drinking water have to be observed as is depth for foxes etc. if you loved a house , would a grave put you off. it would me but maybe it wouldnt bother some others.
If there were two identical homes and one had a marked grave site while the other did not, I'd definitely go with the grave site home.
Ive just been reading how easy it is to be buried on your own land, distance from water sources and drinking water have to be observed as is depth for foxes etc. if you loved a house , would a grave put you off. it would me but maybe it wouldnt bother some others.
Wouldn't bother me. In the old days, most places had the graves of those who had lived on that land before. But it might affect me buying the house, if the yard was small so that the grave interfered with me using the yard.
Oooooo....I wonder if that increases the chances of ghosts?
Ive just been reading how easy it is to be buried on your own land, distance from water sources and drinking water have to be observed as is depth for foxes etc. if you loved a house , would a grave put you off. it would me but maybe it wouldnt bother some others.
It wouldn't bother me in the slightest, providing that it was not in some spot where I considered it "in the way," like where I wanted a pool, or a new garage, whatever.
I grew up in a fairly small town in western New York state, and there were probably a dozen cemeteries in the countryside around town on private property. One had at least four dozen graves in it, judging from the dates a large number of the deaths were children who died in the same two years, who probably died in an epidemic.
In the process of researching my family tree I have found the actual marked graves of family members on private property only once. It actually helped me correctly confirm the maiden name of one of my maternal great grandmothers.
I knew approximately where she was buried from a book a relative had published of a survey of the local cemeteries. From an online conversation at a genealogy website I learned the name of an elderly lady who "might know" where the burial site was. While I was researching some records at the county courthouse I asked about the potential informant and was told that she probably would not be able to help, but her sons might. The sons, both attorneys, had an office about a block from the courthouse. They actually had a county map (from 1915) on the wall in their waiting area, and I was able to point out where the grave might be. Neither of them knew where my GGM was buried, but one suggested contacting Mr. W., "who grew up in that area and played all over the woods there."
I called Mr. W. He just laughed and said, "She's in my back yard!" Mr. W. was very pleasant and invited me over. There are two graves, GGM and one of her sons, inside a low wrought iron fence, sheltered by a large cedar tree. Her marker is flat; his is upright. The area inside the fence had not been maintained and was overgrown with briers, which I cut back with limb loppers provided by Mr. W. After brushing away dead needles and rootlets from the cedar tree I was able to read the inscription on GGM's stone, which gave her maiden name. Mystery solved! The cemetery book had her last name wrong.
I know many more of my ancestors lie in unmarked graves, and there are people who now own the properties they are buried on who have no idea they are there.
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