Yearly cemetery clean up

Our little cemetery is for the descendants of the original settlers who came here from different parts of the US mostly German including my family, on Dad's side. Today we got together for the yearly clean up, and cut the weeds. Nothing more is done through out the rest of the year. Does any of your communities have a cemetery that is maintained by the community? stan

we are in ky and our co has 300 cemeteries and 250 are a mess 4 if us have taken time to restore 50 of them over 6 yrs and we have really enjoyed it and met a lot of nice people but have noticed that after 40 years most cemeteries are abandoned

Here in Nebraska, active cemeteries are maintained by a Cemetery Board that is required for each one by state statute.

My county has 17 cemeteries that are considered "Abandoned", because no one claims ownership and there are no more burials. (As a County Commissioner, I'm liaison to the abandoned cemeteries). Two have only one grave, others have a dozen or more. Nebraska State statutes require each county to maintain the abandoned cemeteries and cause each one to be mowed at least twice per year, with one mowing occurring within 10 days prior to Memorial Day. Statute also limits each county to spending $1,000 per cemetery per year. We contract with a lawn service to mow the abandoned cemeteries and usually mow them up to six times per year, depending on weather, grass growth, etc.

I'm also liaison to our County Ag Extension Office, and some of the 4H clubs adopt abandoned cemeteries and maintain them beyond what the county can.

One of the one grave cemeteries we maintain is simply the grave with four posts around it and a small white wooden cross on it about 50 yards into a field. The story is that in the early days a lady on a wagon train died in childbirth. With weather concerns, the threat of Indians, etc., the wagon train couldn't be delayed so all they could do was bury her and move on. I've heard both ways of whether the baby survived or is buried with the lady. I would guess the baby survived.

We don't know, nor do we have any way of knowing who she was. The only way we would ever find out is if descendants came looking. Kind of sad, really, but that's the way it was back then. Life on the plains was harsh.

The local cemetaries are either maintained by families who have kin buried there or the church folks do it. I've helped mow and clean up. But normally there is some kind of fund kept to pay someone to mow. The complaint with the mowers is that they keep sucking up decorations into the blades because ofcourse people will put plastic flowers and other things that blow off into the grass. The one church cemetary is surrounded by a hayfield and the farmer gets upset (obviously) when he bails up plastic and wire pieces.

Also I live near the Antietam Battlefield area, several cemetaries there mostly maintained by the feds.

I live in an Ohio township and the Township maintains 6 cemeteries and does a good job.

Myself and one other person volunteer to look after our cemetery, which is owned by the diocese. Just planted 52 trees along one end today. Ben

My mother has taken care of the local cemetery since the early 80s when my sister passed. She has had help from myself and others over the years but some of those people are gone now such as my dad and a neighbor lady. She is unable to do it this year and nobody is jumping in to help. I will try to in the next few weeks to get it ready for memorial day but I am working full time and my back is giving me troubles. Sometimes I think letting it go this year may get some new people interested. I don't mind doing some of the clean up but have no interest in the rest. It is still somewhat active so it needs to keep going.

A year ago the wife Uncle ask me if I would take his place on the cemetery board. He said he ask the wife's two brothers and they wouldn't take it. Her side of the family is buried there. The cemetery is 20 miles from me. Come to find out he was the treasure and there is two other cemetery's also. The county collects taxes in a five mile square to maintain them. We hire someone to keep them mowed. One cemetery the last person buried there was a woman in 1885.

Must be nice to have time like that. I just hauled our Christmas tree to the dump today.

I know of 9 in the county. Some have cem. board and get tax money to maintain. I know of 2 that sat idle and grew up with trees and brush until Boy Scouts cleaned up/paid for help resetting stones. One I know of is in a Pasture and few know its there. Previous cattleman let the cows graze it and knock down some stones. Its fenced off now. Must b half a dozen on the reservation that only the Tribe knows about.
My stone is set and waiting for me in a well kept cemetery but the bone heads they hire to mow have hit it twice that I know of. Saw one they hit 2 weeks ago and knocked off its base. Sad world we live in.

We get together on the 20th and clean it up and mow the grass, then we hire a neighbor to mow it as needed for the rest of the summer. I have been leveling stones as needed since I retired.

i am a township trustee our township contributes some money to cemetery board as they have very little money to work with.

We live next to(200 yards East )the 120 th Parallel of Longitude, the Alberta /British Columbia border(Canada)

Cemetery is in Alberta (2 acres) removed from our 122 acres of land:

Church,(long gone) was on the British Columbia side of the 120 th parallel of longitude:

Lois and I keep the grass cut and all grave markers trimmed of grass:

We are retired, maintaining the Cemetery is a duty I enjoy. Many of my family members are laid to rest in this small cemetery, including my younger brother:

Bob & Lois

Back east here cemeteries are mainly cared for by the towns. There are state laws governing the use of the funds that come from the fees that people pay for their lots. Usually the money pays for eternal care. It usually goes into a trust fund. In my town I am the one responsible for the trust funds, and I pay out each year to two separate cemetery boards. One of the boards is doing a great job with their cemetery, but they are not a legal board, The other board is legal but don't get so much done for the money. Though both boards get annual trust money most of the money comes from the annual town budget.

My mother's family is buried in a small N. Alabama town. Grandfather, two aunts several cousins etc. I visited several years ago and found the name of the volunteer manager and sent a check for a couple years to the bank. Now the banks name has changed and no one seems to know where to send money. It is 350 miles away so visiting is hard. I appreciate all that you volunteers do for your community and family.