This might be private property, but access to existing cemeteries seems to be in the public interest. What are the landowners gonna do, deny families access to their buried ancestors?!
Compensation for a public good should be in order.
If their ancestors wanted to maintain access, they needed to have an easement on the deed.
> This might be private property, but access to existing cemeteries seems to be in the public interest. <
Very true. But on the other hand, what landowner would want strangers on their property? A reasonable compromise might be an ordinance allowing families access to such a cemetery on Sundays only, from say 1 PM to 5 PM.
Yup. The landowners can and should be able to deny access to trespassers. If the town wants the land, they can pay for it via eminent domain, but the filthy politicians probably don't want to give up the power to make the landowner pay property taxes on the extra acreage.
We have a old Revolutionary era family cemetery in NJ that is now surrounded by an oil refinery. Access is granted as long as it is within their operating hours.
What she should do is dig them up or, at the very least, remove any tombstones that may be around.
For the life of me I don’t understand the purpose of visiting the tombstone of a dead person. They are not there, and if the body’s been there long enough, neither is it.
We like to visit graveyards, but we don’t visit the sites where loved ones are buried. It’s about history and nothing more. And if they are on private property, they are off limits without the land owner’s permission.
Property rights trumps visitation rights. Criminy, they’re dead and have been a LONG time.
I’ve never heard of a situation where access to a cemetery wasn’t allowed, even the old ones.
Part and parcel (pun intended) of getting land w/burials.
Access doesn’t mean folks can wander willy-nilly all around your property. They can go to site directly.
In that situation, I’d put a fence around it and a path leading to it, but I’m a cemetery-friendly person. I actually considered buying a lot once, that had an old family cemetery on it. Thought it would be neat. Something to research, etc..
If you come on this ranch without our permission under the claim that you wish to visit your ancestors then you will be joining them.
You want public access to your ancestors then bury them on public land (or land with access rights), or retain an easement when you sell the property. After a few generations thousands could claim access the private property.
Yes
I own 100 acres with 2 cemeteries on it. One of the cemeteries butts up to my lake, we've had people all the time try and use that access as an excuse to fish. Trash, parties, drug deals, ours is quite a ways off the road so people go there all the time do do everything except visit their relatives.
I got in a snitt with the county over it about 15 years ago and mowed a goat path about 2000' long from a road on the back side of the property, told the county "There's your access now" and gated it off. They threw a fit, but I pointed out I was giving them access, just not the fastest way they would like for their mowers. We reached an agreement when they repaired the damage to my yard and put down all new gravel, that I was maintaining on my own, and agreed to my rule that I can throw anyone off that is being a problem.
Seeing as they had no parking inside the fence we had them put up and so technically any car parked there was on my land I was paying taxes on, they agreed to be better partners in the arrangement.
Don't even GET me going on denying the public access when word got out there was a bald eagle nest on the back of my property, that was a whole other issue with the DNR and access as well.
“What are the landowners gonna do, deny families access to their buried ancestors?!”
how about the families keep their property?
Why is it the landowner's responsibility when the parcel was never a public cemetery? It is the ancestors in between the guy who is suing and the ones who are buried who are at fault for not securing an easement.