Saving Graves: Getting Involved

Saving Graves
Getting Involved

There are many things that you can do to help preserve your endangered cemeteries.

Perhaps the single most important step you can take to preserve and protect endangered cemeteries is to keep their history alive. If you know of such a cemetery in your community, tell your children and grandchildren about it. If you can, take them out to the property and show them what you know about the graveyard. Document your knowledge of the cemetery and place a copy of it in your local library or historical society.
Get a copy of the existing Cemetery Law in YOUR area. Read it and ask your District or County Attorney if they would prosecute under the current law. Send a copy of your local law to us so we can add it to this website.
Write to your local Representative and Senator about this law and changes you want. DO NOT email them until you write first. They receive thousands of emails. A LETTER has more impact than an email. Their addresses are in your local paper or on your local Government Website.
Get involved with cemetery preservation. Get your lawn mower and Weed Eater and clean up a small rural cemetery. Take the family and make a day of it. There are not many places that are as quite and peaceful as a cemetery. Help mend some fences. Clear brush or debris from around the graves.
Do a cemetery registry. If you don't know how, look at those on line, do what they do. It is not difficult but does take a little time. Start with a very small cemetery to get the hang of it. Take photos of the cemetery and unusual monuments. There are always some that make you wonder.
Write to your local Historical Societies. Get them involved with the small rural cemeteries problems. Call if you don't get an answer to your letter. Don't give up.
Organize a local Cemetery Protection Association to take care of one or more of the neglected cemeteries in your county. It doesn't have to look like your front yard. Just keep the grass and weeds under control. Keep the saplings cut from around the tombstones so they don't grow large and damage the graves.
Visit with the farmers and ranchers in your area who have these small cemeteries on their land. Help them understand that you feel as strongly as about this graveyard as they do about where their relatives are buried. Work to find compromises which allow access while respecting the rights of the property owner. Most are good people just trying to make a living. Most will offer help to assist you in cleaning or protecting the cemetery on their property. They will want to know who your are and why you are there. Remember, it is their land, respect it. Be courteous and respectful to them. It will go a long way toward a productive relationship. When you are on their land - shut gates, pick up after yourself and others. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but foot prints.
If you have a small cemetery on your property, contact your local Historical Society about deeding the cemetery to them to protect it for future generations. The cemetery can also be deeded to an association that will care for it in perpetuity. Check with your attorney about the options.
Be alert to dangers. You must be aware of survey parties flagging the property, efforts to post the property, changes in ownership, the erection of new fences or the locking of gates, and the appearance of heavy equipment. While there are unscrupulous individuals, many people are simply not aware that a cemetery exists on their property.
Get your genealogical group involved with this program. Refer them to this page for tips. It will be changing from time to time as we receive your feedback.
Native American's burial sites are protected by Federal law. If you hear of a cemetery that is scheduled for destruction, determine if any Native Americans are buried there. That will stop it in its tracks. Involve the local Tribes if you believe that Native Americans are buried in the cemetery. Call the U.S. Attorney and lodge a complaint against the project if you suspect that Native Americans are buried there. This tactic HAS worked in the past.
We all have knowledge of Neighborhood Watch; why not drive by your local cemeteries late @ night on Friday and/or Saturday nights since that is apparently when most vandalism is likely to occur? There is little reason for a car to be PARKED near a cemetery late at night ... take a look and report it if suspicious, which it probably is. On your way home from a late night out??? What will it take, maybe an extra 5 minutes, if that? One need not even be confrontational; just call the police, or note the car license and report it to the police and/or the cemetery office during business hours.
Last but not least, if you find that a cemetery has been destroyed before it could be stopped, go to the local authorities and file a complaint under your existing local law.

Remember, it's up to US! Most people still have no idea that cemeteries can be destroyed to build a shopping center, build a barn, or plant crops.