Saving
Graves
Removing Rocks in Cemeteries
Many times when visiting an older cemetery or
undertaking a clean up and restoration project you will find numerous rocks
located within that cemetery. While these rocks may look to be at first glance
just randomly scattered rocks, in reality they often are the only marker or
indication that this is in fact the location of a grave. A general rule to
follow is that you should never remove a rock from a cemetery.
The use of rocks as grave markers can be for
any number of reasons. Some of these include:
- Many people could not afford to purchase a
carved gravestone. Often times in these cases "field stones" or
other such rocks were used in place of a carved marker. During the
depression years there was no money to purchase gravestones and it seems
over the years no one has stepped up to replace the stones. Still more
cemeteries will often have rows of graves with "field stone"
markers. Many times graves were marked by non-native rocks (all others
having been removed from the immediate vicinity) so that others would know a
grave existed. Often times a larger rock was placed at the head of the
grave and a smaller one at the foot. Later, if a traditional tombstone
was placed, the rock was removed at the time the marker was erected. Some
have long flat rocks placed in the ground in a perpendicular fashion to
resemble the regular gravestones but some are marked with just a rock.
- Local Customs - While the grave itself may
or may not have been marked by a rock, with many of the older burial sites
it was a custom to outline the grave with a border of rocks. This custom may
have arisen from local customs of using field rocks to outline fields, or
build cairns for property corner markers.
- Lack of a local stone mason at the time.
In some cases there rocks have been removed by workers in order to make mowing
easier. All too often we are discovering that a Boy Scout troop or a 4-H group
did a community service project and removed all the "loose" rocks from
the cemeteries. It is also possible if you find a pile of rocks in the area of a
neglected or abused cemetery that someone before you removed them from graves,
and piled them where you are finding them.
In the very old cemeteries in the desert west, a wooden cross was placed at the
head of the grave and the grave outlined in small rocks. It didn't take
long for the sand to cover the small rocks and for the wooden cross to
deteriorate. So, if anyone discovers a line of small rocks in or under the sand,
look for the grave!
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