Today is Tombstone Tuesday. So let us talk about the abandoned cemeteries and neglected areas.
I know a law was passed if an Indian is buried there it can not be disturbed and
you must get Federal permission for moving it etc. I also recall reading that they could not plow over, cement or change the cemetery that Indians may be in.
But besides that there are literally thousands of cemetery's and stones neglected.
The standard story is they move what is left of the stones. Plow the field or cement over for a shopping center or like in Kentucky an airport is become a norm.
I wonder how the living people whom pay thousands of dollars for being buried or interred would feel if they learned 30 years from now someone says we can't afford a cemetery we have to change the plans and make it a place for only the living.
Recently it was written that this is happening in more than one country. I know
developers are more money hungry than they are respect hungry.
We wonder why our youth has so little to no respect about many things we never would
have considered disrespecting and yet we see it all the time. It happens in the east, west, south and north of all of our great country.
People generally learn more by seeing than by saying. The old adage "Do as I say not what I do" seems to be rampart in reverse. Having always felt that manners are critical to living a life where you can lay your head on the pillow at night and sleep.
Why have we allowed ourselves to be so over consumed by the things that really do not matter and neglect the things that do matter. I can say I think genealogists tend
to be more caring and concerned that the average citizen.
If there is an abandoned cemetery I feel that the owner of the land has the responsibility to record the data take pictures and preserve it.
The cemetery in Valley Ford was treated just like above which left my parents frustrated many years ago. The field has grown hay and pastured cows for at least 50 years now. It was there when I was young and then they took out the last of the fence leaned the tombstones up and I suspect they got hauled away and the next thing Dad knew was they were plowing the area. So I wonder how many cemeteries in Sonoma County have been lost completely. It makes one wonder how many every where are lost.
I truly enjoyed the talk by the gentleman from the college that is collecting cemetery data in this region now. He implied we have at least 50 cemeteries missing in this area. Some are parts of freeways some are parts of buildings etc, crazy world we live in now.
I noticed that there are many blog persons at times, that bring up the subject, so it is really a serious concern.
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I worry now about the small cemetery where
ReplyDeletemy ancestor John Cutter West and three of
his grandchildren are buried in Grafton
Notch, Me. There is no fence, no sign,
and the graves sit maybe 50 yds off the
side of the highway. Only one stone is
down in our family but there are more
from other families that weather and snowmobilers have knocked over. And there
are very few descendants left up there
in Maine now to keep an eye on it.