Why Cemeteries?

Cemeteries are repositories for the dead, where we go to seek solace, meditate, and commune with those dearly departed. Graveyards are also sites of historical record, a library of sorts where each stone tells a story and each life was meaningful.

Millions of stones in cemeteries offer glimpses of the people who have gone before us, revealing a spark of humanity in the dead that we only normally see in the living.

A graveyard has an important status in our society — not just as a location to bury our loved ones, but as a place to memorialize, visit, and remember them. It is also a place where we separate, where bonds are broken, where we must let go and finally accept the parting of ways. That is, and always has been, the true essence of a cemetery.

In this chapter, we'll examine the history and cultural importance of cemeteries, plus some of the major types of graveyards.

A HISTORY OF CEMETERIES

We humans have been burying our dead since ancient times as a way of showing respect: a dignified send-off via flame, mummification, burial, or immersion in water. Evidence indicates the Neanderthals first buried their dead fifty thousand years ago in the caves of La Chapelle-aux-Saints in modern France, while other archaeologists claim the practice started as early as one hundred thousand years ago within Mount Precipice/Qafzeh Cave in Israel. Neanderthals were also the first to place flowers in graves with the remains.

The first tomb used for only one individual dates back to 12000 BCE in Israel (containing the remains of a man and his dog), while the Chinese have been credited with making the first coffins (the oldest of which dates back to 5000 BCE and holds the remains of a young girl). The Chinese were also the first to build boat coffins, and the first to use tree trunks as coffins (4000–3000 BCE). The Egyptians developed a process known as mummification for ritualistic purposes around 2600 BCE and began the practice of marking graves with stones bearing the general likeness of the person who had died. The first pyramid — and thus the first documented cemetery marker or monument — was the Step Pyramid constructed for King Zoser at Saqqara in 2750 BCE.

Christian burials began when the Romans excavated burial chambers underground and outside of the city. Christians banded together to form burial societies to ensure that the faithful were interred collectively in a respectful and spiritually appropriate manner. By the third century, several levels of burial chambers existed below ground, and these catacombs became property held in common by the Christian community. Basilicas were built above the catacombs so mass could be said over the graves of the saints and martyrs buried below. Christian burials made directly in the ground that adjoined a church — but could not be interred in the church — later became the norm, and some of these churchyards can still be found scattered across the Christian world.

Across the Atlantic in North America, the Clovis people, early mammoth hunters, practiced respectful burial of their dead more than twelve thousand years ago. The grave of a twelve-to-eighteen-month-old boy was discovered in 1968 in Montana. The young child's remains were covered with powdered red ochre (a sign of respect and ritual) and surrounded by 125 artifacts, including dozens of spear points and antler tools, to aid him on his journey into the afterlife.

With the advancements of the Industrial Revolution during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, people began to be buried farther away from home. Large city cemeteries formed and quickly filled up, and cemeteries dealt with this overcrowding by allowing a body to rest in a grave for a set amount of years (or sometimes months) before digging up the remains and reusing the plot for someone else. (The excavated remains were then tossed into a communal burial pit located elsewhere on the grounds.) Another option was to rebury the remains deeper in the earth and then bury on top of them. These methods were especially useful in paupers' cemeteries of the nineteenth century. Today, lack of sufficient burial space is again creating a dilemma, and many of the suggestions being considered harken back to remedies from the 1700 and 1800s.

It's impossible to say where and when the first cemetery in the United States was founded, since hundreds of tiny burial grounds were created when settlers needed to bury family members. Cemeteries and graveyards of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, while more organized, were not welcoming places. Death was an accepted part of life in the Old World, but death was feared, dreaded, and mourned in the New World.

The early Puritans believed in sparse burials with little to no decoration. Most stones bore only a brief inscription, usually the person's name and the date of death. The only decoration on these early graves was rather morbid. A common symbol was the winged death's-head figure: a winged skull with crossed bones symbolizing the religious belief that death brought eternal life. Each community had its stylized version of the death's-head, based on how its religious leaders and stonecarvers thought it should look. During this time, a stylized hourglass with wings could also be found on gravestones, symbolizing the flight of time for the mortal soul. Death would later be depicted as a skeletal man with a scythe: "The Grim Reaper," the harvester of souls (image A).

During the late 1700s, Colonial New England began to loosen its harsh orthodox religious views, and gravestones started to show more uplifting images of cherubs and angels, although the death's-head continued to be used in and around Boston. By the 1790s and early 1800s, willow trees (image B) and floral motifs began to decorate tombstones, providing a less morbid outlook toward death, and instead focusing on more positive natural images. This was also the age of portrait stones, where a general likeness of the deceased's stoic face was carved upon his marker (image C).

With the arrival of the nineteenth century, attitudes about death began to change. Mourning became popular and death became more mysterious. In 1831, Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was considered the epitome of what an American cemetery could and should be. This original "rural" or "garden" cemetery was landscaped to make it appear more park-like. Inspired by the English garden city movement, the rural cemetery was composed of acres of rolling hills and pastoral settings, featuring lakes, walking paths, wooded groves, and other landscape designs that made the cemetery feel tranquil and welcoming. This was a place to "take the air," a genteel way to see and be seen. It was a chance to escape from the dirt and noise of the city for a few hours and enjoy a contemplative stroll among exquisite sculpture, interesting architecture, and acres of rolling hills and valleys.

The rural cemetery was also something of a democratic ideal. Anyone — regardless of religion, ethnicity, or economic class — could stroll its grounds or purchase a burial plot. This wrestled control away from churches, which could punish people by refusing them a burial plot based on their religious affiliation or moral character (or supposed lack thereof).

A rural cemetery was not just a place in the countryside to bury your dead; it was an attraction that appealed to those nineteenth-century traits of nostalgia, melancholy, and romance. The concept became so popular that by 1836, seven more rural cemeteries were being created in the eastern United States, including Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia and Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. By the mid-1850s, another batch of rural cemeteries had been developed in Midwestern and southern states, including Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, and Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit.

The appearance of the rural cemetery was quite timely, since the Victorian Era also ushered in death as a full-blown business, complete with special mourning clothes, burial superstitions, funeral etiquette, and death mementos. Thanks to Queen Victoria and the forty years she spent grieving for her husband Prince Albert, Victorians embraced death and mourning with numerous rules of etiquette in order to avoid exhibiting poor taste. For example, Victorians were required to mourn for a set period of time. A widow was expected to be in mourning clothes, or "widow's weeds," for at least two years after the demise of a husband, although many dressed in black for the remainder of their lives. A widower, on the other hand, was only required to be in mourning for one year.

Rural cemeteries featured beautiful properties, with amazing architecture, stunning sculpture, and gorgeous park-like settings where families could enjoy picnicking, visiting, and concerts. They became virtual outdoor museums filled with sculpture, stained glass, and carvings by the most popular artists and craftsmen of the time: Louis Comfort Tiffany, Giulio Monteverde, and Auguste Rodin, to name a few. Stones and monuments became more artistic, grander, and more momentous. Mausoleums became de rigueur for the rich (image D), and obelisks marked the graves of those who had been up-and-coming in the community. (While flouting wealth would be considered crass beyond the cemetery gates, wealthy members of society could strut their status here without fear of social stigma.)

In our modern world, many people prefer to avoid the cemetery, afraid of the unknown or dreading their own eventual mortality — or, for the more superstitious, spooked by spirits. Gone is that Victorian sense of history and random beauty. Today, our cemeteries are laid out in perfect rows with standardized markers made of certain materials, crafted in certain shapes, and bearing certain designs; almost all are mass-produced. Our creativity toward death has been stifled. Cemeteries of the twenty-first century are less inviting and less interesting than those from the mid-1800s through the mid-1900s, a period that took the time to tell a story about the person buried below the marker: a woman mourning the loss of her loved one atop a monument (image E), or young lambs snuggled together as a reminder that death can claim even the young (image F).

TYPES OF CEMETERIES

A cemetery can consist of a few family graves in a tiny burial plot or thousands of graves scattered across acres of prime real estate. But regardless of a cemetery's size, family researchers and tombstone tourists still need to understand how different kinds of cemeteries are set up and where to go to find elusive burial forms.

There are six main types of cemeteries to consider when searching for an ancestor's burial location and records, and identifying what kind of cemetery your ancestors are buried in makes it easier to locate. If you have a problem finding a cemetery, check with the local genealogical or historical society. These groups are great resources for local data since they work to preserve valuable information like burial indexes and can connect you with community members who may be able to assist researchers in locating little-known, or forgotten graveyards.

Churchyards and Graveyards

Although we use the terms interchangeably today, "churchyard" and "graveyard" originally had different meanings. A churchyard was exactly that: a piece of consecrated ground that surrounded or was adjacent to a church. A graveyard, meanwhile, was any land set aside for burying the dead.

Religious burial grounds are some of the oldest organized cemeteries, dating back to the Middle Ages. Churchyard burial grounds were usually small and never had enough space to bury the current generation of members. Over time, bodies were dug up and placed in community burial pits, while new bodies were interred in the current graves. Unfortunately, this led to diseases being spread through contact with the remains — just one reason bodies began to be buried six feet deep.

These hallowed grounds were available for church members only. The charge for a burial varied, depending on the churchyard. Some churches buried members for free or for a nominal fee, while others would charge more in order to maintain the graves and the grounds. Many churches request a burial fee, but then offer members some financial support so they could afford the burial. Graves located outside the cemetery fence or wall were set aside for those souls who were unwanted by the church — stillborns, bastards, slaves, or people who had committed suicide, or those who were simply unknown.

Church cemeteries were governed by laws and a board of directors. If a church experienced a loss due to some act of nature (or God, as the case may be) — or if it had to rebuild in a different location for other reasons — the old cemetery might become untended and abandoned over the years. If so, a regional government entity could take it over.

Also, as the population of villages and towns grew, real estate values increased. Property like this was then purchased for development, but the previous owners didn't always move the cemetery's contents to another location. Sometimes the remains were relocated, other times only the markers were moved, and many times stones were pulled up and another structure was built over the existing graves with no indication that the land had once been a cemetery. (Who knows how many subdivisions currently sit on top of former cemeteries?)

Clergy should be able to assist you in gaining access to churchyard records and deeds. If you are not able to locate your ancestor's records at the local level, religious communities have statewide and national offices where burial and membership information may be archived. Contact them for assistance, or for more guidance.

Public and Municipal Cemeteries

A public cemetery (image G) is owned and controlled by a government entity, usually a city, town, village, county, or township where the land is located. State and national jurisdictions maintain burial facilities for veterans and their families. If someone who was destitute dies, a public cemetery will bury the deceased without charge, as part of their responsibility to the community.

By law, a municipal cemetery must remain open to everyone because it's funded by tax dollars, which are collected from the public and used to maintain the grounds for the benefit of the people. This also means local government employees can use city or county equipment for the use, upkeep, and maintenance of the grounds. Cemeteries with graves more than fifty years old may also be eligible to receive funds for historic preservation that could assist in their upkeep.

Since a public cemetery accepts anyone, grave markers can vary from small poured concrete stones to large ornate monuments and mausoleums. This is what makes public cemeteries some of the most visually fascinating burial grounds to explore.

Private Cemeteries

Private cemeteries are just that: private. They are not owned by a government entity, but by private organizations, corporations, fraternal lodges, or individuals.

A private cemetery can be for-profit or not-for-profit. A for-profit status affects the cost and upkeep at the cemetery, making it a more expensive burial option than a public cemetery, something to keep in mind if your ancestors had money and would have preferred to be buried "among their own class."

Owners or caretakers of private burial grounds may be listed at the cemetery entrance on a sign or plaque located near the gate, sometimes with their phone numbers or other contact info. You'll need this information if you're seeking admittance to the cemetery — remember, this land is just as private as someone's home. You should gain permission to search the grounds of a private cemetery, or you will be trespassing.

To locate the owner of a private cemetery, visit the office of the county assessor, land surveyor, or county recorder to find land ownership maps. If a cemetery was once private and is no longer being used or maintained, the local government may have taken it over, and you may no longer need to gain permission to access it. Also, check with local and regional historical societies to see if any of their members can identify who owns the cemetery.

Family and Customary Cemeteries

Family cemeteries were located on the homestead and set aside for the burial of specific family members. A customary cemetery, meanwhile, might also include the remains of close friends and neighbors (something to keep in mind if you can't find an ancestor in the local public cemetery). The customary burial ground had no legal status and was usually tended by the descendants of those buried there.

Many family and customary cemeteries have been in use since the land was first settled, and these burial grounds can be found in rural settings, on family farms, or outside small communities. Whether any records or formal papers still exist — if they ever did — is questionable. At one time, there were thousands of family burial places, but more are being abandoned to nature each year.