An abandoned Jewish graveyard
An abandoned church and cemetery

An abandoned graveyard, which is also known as abandoned cemetery, is a graveyard that is no longer maintained.[1] Graveyards may be abandoned for various reasons.[2] Some reasons for abandonment of cemetery include such phenomena as; financial difficulty, natural disaster, unpleasant reputation and/or accessibility.[3]

Quantity

According to one source, it is claimed that there are thousands of abandoned graveyards in the United States.[2]

Identification

Locating and identifying individual grave in abandoned cemetery may be hard due to lithophytes[lower-alpha 1] overgrowing on the tombstone markings. In some cases, it may be difficult because the tombstones end up vandalized.[3]

Relocation

One way of restoring abandoned graveyards is to completely relocate them to new place, such places may be; wildlife refuges, public parks or historic sites.[3] That means relocating both the tombstone and the coffin. However, relocating grave is rather expensive, it can cost anywhere between 8,000$ to 20,000$, or in some cases even more.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. Or in some cases lichens.

References

  1. "Abandoned cemetery definition". lawinsider.com. Law Insider. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Crickmore, Katherine (2018). "Abandoned cemeteries: A guide to their identification & care". gateway.uncg.edu. University of North Carolina Greensboro. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "What Happens To Abandoned Cemeteries?". mentalitch.com. Mental Itch. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  4. "How Much Does it Cost to Move a Grave?". memorials.com. Memorials. Retrieved January 2, 2023.

Further reading

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