Thursday, October 14, 2010

Perpetual Care


Perpetual Care
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel
For several months I have been investigating how perpetual care worked for the business of cemeteries in the past.

In the book, Silent Cities, which is out of print but I was able to obtain from my library system, I discovered this in the chapter "Neglected Cemeteries". p. 100

"[when] the cemetery runs out of land for burials its revenue diminishes drastically. At the same time expenses needed for lawn care and new plantings as well as for trained personnel to discourage thieves and vandals and to restore toppled markers. If the cemetery doesn't have a perpetual care fund, its income dries up and it cannot maintain its grounds." 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post today as usual Midge. Important topic for people to know about. This perpetual care is pretty much assumed to exist forever by the descendants. Many very old, small, private cemeteries are in tough rough condition and need volunteer help. Good civic project for Boy Scouts or adult organizations to clean and help with minor work. Professionals only should do monument repairs and extensive landscaping.

Anonymous said...

I'll also mention that many small to medium sized cemeteries do have boards of directors or associations that govern the actual operations or care of the cemetery. Any volunteer work should be pre-approved by the governing body for that cemetery. This also applies to church cemeteries and municipal cemeteries.

Midge Frazel said...

Yes, the cemeteries where three generations of my own ancestors are resting have superintendents and an association that governs the cemetery.

This post was to show I did follow up on a question I had some months back about perpetual care in the past and if it is needed today.

Thank for reading my blog, Anonymous.