Posted on 05/04/2008 10:13:39 AM PDT by rarestia
God bless that soybean farmer! I have many ancestors buried in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. I hope no one tries to desecrate their burial grounds.
My own grave site has a fantastic view of Mt. Hood. I certainly hope moving this Vwemonr graveyard does not become a precedent!
Ooops! VERMONT graveyard,
Mark
What do you think of digging up old Indian graves or maybe Neanderthals or “Hobbits”?
The deed provided for a right of way across the surrounding farmland. We eventually made a trip down there, not sure if the cemetery would be there anymore. We spent some time looking around for but finally there it was, entirely surrounded by a plowed field.
The cemetery was not large and was surrounded by an iron fence. It looked like no one had tended it for many decades. Tall cedar tress, a species I have never liked, had grown in the plot and their roots had upset many of the stones.
It must have been a pain for the farmer to plow around this small piece of land. Next time I go there I won't be surprised if everything has disappeared., although I expect there are still some distant relatives living in the area.
I suppose if he’d bought the property, quietly just taken down the fence, built over it and gone on, no one would have noticed. You think?
One thing I did find odd was that people think it’s ok to move graves for roads, but not for houses. Why are public roads ok but homes are not?!
He knew about it.
FTA:
Guite, 62, of Greenwich, Conn., signed an option to buy the land in December _ contingent on being able to move the graves.
130 acres and only one suitable homesite. Hard to imagine, isn’t it?
What a bunch of socialists hang out here on a conservative thread. Property rights are the basis of freedom and without them we have NO freedom. This is an issue of property rights and to he** with the town and relatives that should have taken care of his remains long ago. If the cemetery is separate and not part of this guy's purchase then he is out of luck, if it is part of his property he should be able to move it.
Note to prospective buyer from CT: Never seen Poltergeist, eh?
Why are public roads ok but homes are not?!
I would think that public roads fall under the criteria for eminent domain, i. e. for the common good.
A private home doesn’t fit that criteria.
As a child, I went to a Baptist camp. My kids also went there. One of the activities the kids would do was “rubbings” on old gravestones in a tiny cemetery right near the center of the camp. As far as I know, no one ever suffered any trauma because of it.
Cemeteries are very often beautiful, peaceful places. We love to visit them.
“For Guite, its about property rights”.
I dont think the original property owners ever consented to anything that would have had them dug up from the eternal resting place “for the sake of the children”.
What a POS.
LOL
Totally off-topic. My dad had a brother that died shortly after birth. I don’t even know his name. He was older than my dad. My dad’s family had owned a small farm outside Whitney, Texas for years. His mother sold it, and years later my dad bought it back. Most of it was mesquite brush and used for cattle. My dad used to go out with me and we walked every square foot of that land many times looking for his brother’s grave, but we never found it.
The town should buy the property and make it a landmark with access. They could use the rest for parks or something.
Sounds like he hasn't actually bought it yet.
And if the seller is a member of the community, I'm sure his local stock has bottomed.
If I were the owner, I would have been writing a covenent in the deed protecting the cemetery; not writing contingent contracts to move it.
I know whereof I speak; we have a suspected grave site at a fallen in homestead on our property. One of these days, well have the it investigated by by a qualified archaeologist, and find out for sure.
I personally know of two similar situations in Georgia.
Two old cemeteries that while no one was looking had the stones removed and the graveyard was just plowed up into the rest of the surrounding corn field.
That's going to stand as the best for a cultural generation or two.
Still, not as long as the cemetery that guy wants to move/get rid of.
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