Cemeteries on residential property (Richmond, Arlington: chapel, houses, deed)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I’m a new resident to Virginia, living in Bedford County for the past two months. In my wanders around Bedford and surrounding counties, I’ve noticed that there are a number of places where small cemeteries are located on what would appear to be residential property. I’ve not seen this before in other parts of the country and was curious about a few things.
Are these cemeteries generally part of the residential property they seem to be located on? Or are they separate properties on their own? If they are part of the larger residential property, what happens if that property changes ownership? Does the cemetery convey along with the home/property? If so, what laws, if any, govern what the new owner can or can’t do with regard to the cemetery and/or the remains which are buried there?
That's a great question, Athena, and I wish I had an answer for you. My wife and I moved to Bedford County about a year ago, and I've certainly seen an abundance of what appear to be private/family cemeteries in the area.
One side of my family goes back generations in rural Southern Tennessee, and I've seen the same sort of thing down there. I've always assumed that the cemeteries are owned by the current residence owner rather than by the family who's buried there, but I couldn't say for certain. I hope someone has a good answer for you!
Nonetheless, if you have any other Bedford County questions, feel free to ask! Myself or my wife (Ryleigh on these boards) will be happy to help.
I think it varies from family cemetery to family cemetery. Some cemetery plots are kept separate from adjoining residential plots - though the cemetery parcels might have a right of way easement over the residential parcel - and ancestors may tend to the plots themselves. Others convey with the residential parcel and are tended by the landowner; I'm not familiar with the rights and responsibilities with regard to this situation.
I know that some families have annual reunions in Franklin County and one has a periodic "cleanup day" where ancestors mow and maintain the parcel. There are ALOT of family cemeteries throughout Franklin County and I'm sure the same is the case with Bedford. In the early 1800s, every family homestead tended to have very large farms (500+ acres) and many maintained their own cemetery.
This is why so many are being cremated in today's world. I certainly do not want to be buried, pay for a high cost funeral and lot and get moved because of a new housing development being built!
I’m a new resident to Virginia, living in Bedford County for the past two months. In my wanders around Bedford and surrounding counties, I’ve noticed that there are a number of places where small cemeteries are located on what would appear to be residential property. I’ve not seen this before in other parts of the country and was curious about a few things.
Are these cemeteries generally part of the residential property they seem to be located on? Or are they separate properties on their own? If they are part of the larger residential property, what happens if that property changes ownership? Does the cemetery convey along with the home/property? If so, what laws, if any, govern what the new owner can or can’t do with regard to the cemetery and/or the remains which are buried there?
Thanks.
Welcome to Virginia, where everything is backwards.
Unlike the liberal Northern states, VA (and some other states South of the Mason Dixon Line) respected the property owners and their rights. Among those rights is the right to be buried on your own land. Prior to the 20th century immigrant settlers filed land claims with the expectation that this will be where they live, and many families stayed in place for centuries. Virginia's big business was agriculture and many of the people worked on the land they owned (or share cropped for). The Catholic Church with its cemetery plots tended to stay in the safe settled areas and in places where sources of donations would be high. Many towns today didn't exist in the early days of settlement, or were insignificant clusters of not more than 20 houses. Family plots (outside of Arlington, Fairfax and near Richmond of course) were therefore not uncommon. The emergence of the funeral industry and the 20th century created new pressures and has changed many things regarding burials. No longer is it routine for a viewing to be held in the family chapel (wealthy land owners) or in a parlor. No longer does one wash and dress the body of their own deceased relative (as shown in the Old Testament). Although VA law and Common Law makes plain the body of the deceased is part of the estate and may be retained by the Next of Kin, most people prefer the hospital (one of the new 20th century phenomena) hold the corpse until a funeral home can be hired for the next step.
Funeral homes have agreements (and occasional financial interests in) with local 'public' cemetaries (another post civil war 'improvement') and therefore do not recommend or advocate disposal of the 'beloved deceased' in any place but a cemetery they have an arrangement with.
By the end of WW2 most counties and states required cemetery plots be registered. At the same time changing economic and population pressures began shrinking VA farms. Farmland suddenly became valuable to realtors. Money hungry counties and towns began comparing taxable farm income to the potential tax revenue if the average farm was subdivided into 10,000 lots approved for housing. The tax money resulting from the conversion of farm land into residential land allowed Mayors to get salaries and Towns to get street lights, etc., etc.
Many, many, housing developments now exist in VA that was farmed within the lifetime of the readers today. In the last few decades sometimes inheriting 30 to 40 year old children who had never earned over $30,000 in their life were notified the family farm they just inherited when Pa or Ma died required $100,000 (or more) of inheritance tax payments. Over the years many land owners yielded to the pressure and disposed of land that had been in the family for a very long time. The cemetaries (if properly registered, and slick realtors found many ways to slide around some registrations, by claims of abandonment, lack of knowledge, etc. and simply built over them) remain.
Cemeteries, if not those of your own family can indeed be a headache and must be mentioned at the time of the property conveyance. You, as the new owner, are generally required to maintain them. Here are some, but by no means all, applicable VA laws pertaining to them.
§ 57-27.1. Access to cemeteries located on private property; cause of action for injunctive relief; applicability.
A. Owners of private property on which a cemetery or graves are located shall have a duty to allow ingress and egress to the cemetery or graves by (i) family members and descendants of deceased persons buried there; (ii) any cemetery plot owner; and (iii) any person engaging in genealogy research, who has given reasonable notice to the owner of record or to the occupant of the property or both. The landowner may designate the frequency of access, hours and duration of the access and the access route if no traditional access route is obviously visible by a view of the property. The landowner, in the absence of gross negligence or willful misconduct, shall be immune from liability in any civil suit, claim, action, or cause of action arising out of the access granted pursuant to this section.
B. The right of ingress and egress granted to persons specified in subsection A shall be reasonable and limited to the purposes of visiting graves, maintaining the gravesite or cemetery, or conducting genealogy research. The right of ingress and egress shall not be construed to provide a right to operate motor vehicles on the property for the purpose of accessing a cemetery or gravesite unless there is a road or adequate right-of-way that permits access by a motor vehicle and the owner has given written permission to use the road or right-of-way of necessity.
C. Any person entering onto private property to access a gravesite or cemetery shall be responsible for conducting himself in a manner that does not damage the private lands, the cemetery or gravesites and shall be liable to the owner of the property for any damage caused as a result of his access.
D. Any person denied reasonable access under the provisions of this section may bring an action in the circuit court where the property is located to enjoin the owner of the property from denying the person reasonable ingress and egress to the cemetery or gravesite. In granting such relief, the court may set the frequency of access, hours and duration of the access.
§ 57-38.1. Proceedings by landowner for removal of remains from abandoned family graveyard.
The owner of any land on which is located an abandoned family graveyard, and there has been no reservation of rights in such graveyard, or when the beneficiaries of any reservations of rights desire to waive such rights, and in which no body has been interred for twenty-five years may file a bill in equity in the circuit court of the county or in the circuit or corporation court wherein such land is located for the purpose of having the remains interred in such graveyard removed to some more suitable repository. To such bill all persons in interest, known or unknown, other than the plaintiffs shall be duly made defendants. If any of such parties be unknown, publication shall be had. Upon the case being properly matured for hearing, and proof being made of the propriety of the removal, the court may order the removal made and the remains properly deposited in another place, at the expense of the petitioner. Such removal and reinterment shall be done with due care and decency.
In determining the question of removal the court shall consider the historical significance of such graveyard and shall consider as well the wishes of the parties concerned so far as they are brought to its knowledge, including the desire of any beneficiaries of any reservation of rights to waive such reservation of rights in favor of removal, and so considering shall exercise a sound discretion in granting or refusing the relief prayed for.
§ 57-39.1:1. Recovery of abandoned interment rights; procedure; rights of owner of record.
A. When interment rights that have been granted by the owner of a cemetery are not used for a period of fifty years or more, they shall be deemed abandoned and revert to the owner of the cemetery, provided he has complied with the provisions of subsection B. For the purposes of this section, "interment" means the same as such term is defined in § 54.1-2310.
B. The owner of the cemetery shall send notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner of the interment right, his heirs or assigns, and any next of kin known to the cemetery. The notice shall be sent to the last known address of the owner requesting the owner's current address, if different than the last known address, and the addresses of the owner's heirs or assigns. If a written response is received from the person to whom notice was sent by the cemetery, the interment rights shall not be deemed abandoned and such rights shall continue for an additional fifty years from the date the response was received by the cemetery. If notice is returned undeliverable or if no response is received by the cemetery within thirty days after notice was sent, the cemetery shall publish a general notice of its intent to declare the interment rights abandoned in a newspaper of general circulation (i) in the county or city where the cemetery is located and (ii) in the county or city of the last known address of the record owner of the interment rights. Such notice shall contain the name and business address of the cemetery and the name of the last record owner of the interment rights. If there is no response thereto by or on behalf of the record owner or his heirs or assigns within 120 days after publication of the notice, the interment rights shall be deemed abandoned and shall revert to the owner of the cemetery. If a written response is received by the cemetery, the interment rights shall not be deemed abandoned and such rights shall continue for an additional fifty years from the date the response was received by the cemetery.
C. If, within thirty years after the interment rights have been deemed abandoned, the record owner, or his heirs or assigns, can prove to the cemetery or a court of competent jurisdiction that he is entitled to the interment rights, the cemetery shall, at no cost, provide a right of interment similar to the one that was abandoned.
§ 57-39.1. Improvement of abandoned and neglected graveyards.
When the owners of any private graveyard, not connected with any church or church property, abandon the graveyard and allow it to fall into a condition of neglect and disuse, so that it is unsightly and thereby lessens the desirability and value of adjacent land, and the owners fail or refuse, when requested by the owner of adjacent land or when requested by the local governing body of the county, city or town wherein the private graveyard is located, to remedy such condition of neglect and put the graveyard into suitable condition, then any owner of adjacent land or the local governing body may file a bill in equity in the circuit court of the county or city wherein the graveyard is located, for the purpose of requiring the graveyard to be placed in a suitable condition. The owners of the graveyard or any person having a right therein shall be made defendants to such court proceedings.
The court shall not enter an order requiring the owners of a graveyard in which a grave or entombment right has never been sold to improve it or place it in a suitable condition. However, after hearing the evidence the court may allow the petitioners, at their own expense, to improve the graveyard and place it in suitable condition and may also require bond to ensure that the petitioners will not injure or remove any tomb, monument, gravestone, grave marker, or vault without having first obtained court approval. Acting pursuant to court order, the petitioners may thereafter enter upon the land and improve the graveyard and place it in suitable condition. The costs in any case involving a graveyard in which a grave or entombment right has never been sold shall be paid by the petitioners.
In any case involving a graveyard in which a grave or entombment right has been sold, the court shall determine whether the owners or petitioners shall pay the costs of improving the graveyard and may require bond to insure against injury or removal of any tomb, monument, gravestone, grave marker, or vault without court approval.
newcomerfromTX...you can always go back to TX. Since your from Texas maybe you can tell me how it is okay to have an open container of alcohol while driving in a vehicle, but it's against the law to drink and drive. Do you ask the officer to hold the beer can while he's conducting the BAC tests? Just curious as to how that works. No dissing Texas here as my family is from there, but every place is backwards. It's greedy politicians, realtor's and people imposing their views on other people.
As for me, I don't care what's done with my remains as I will be dead and won't know the difference. Though if my family had land, I would love to be on my families land. My luck, I will probably end up being a door stop.
I own 9 grave plots in VA for me and my family. The graveyard is owned by a church. There is no access road to our sights, and my mother is confined to a wheel chair. For many years we have drove her to the plots where my grandma & pa rests, not harming anyone or anything. The last visit we made my mom was not allowed to visit cause the preacher of the church has put up a fence and nailed 2 picnic tables together blocking access to those plots. I have a deed to the plots and no way wanna cause any problems for anyone but it is heart breaking that an 80 yr old lady who worked 28 years of her life at the sheriffs dept, that's in a wheel chair, can't go and visit her mother's grave or the place she will be laid to rest herself because of a preacher who has blocked access with no trespassing signs, a fence and picnic tables.
My mother is in bad health and will have to be laid to rest here herself. This terrible issue has affected her health & caused her many sleepless nights and worry.
What can I do to fix this and help my mother be comfortable for what little time that she has left here with me.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
April Cobb Swiney Wiles
Um, talk to the preacher? Not sure why this is here but I'm not sure what can be done on CD with such little info on what or why this was done.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
