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Plan & Preserve Your Cemetery for All Time

The first step in preserving any cemetery is to outline a master plan of actions and goals needed to restore, preserve and / or venerate the cemetery. Each cemetery*s master plan must be developed to address the unique needs and issues of that cemetery. Developing a master plan for a cemetery can be a relatively simple matter to a very complex document depending on the needs of the cemetery. A good plan will integrate issues of a managing cemetery organization; rehabilitation or treatment of tombstones / markers, features, and landscape; and location and legal description with issues such as priorities and the available budget. It will also address the long-term needs of the cemetery, particularly maintenance. Moreover, it must address both near-term and long-range planning while remaining flexible to adapt to changing needs, priorities and available resources.

The following topical areas are offered as "things to consider" in developing your master plan. The order they are presented is not necessarily the order you may need to consider for your particular cemetery.


Cemetery Preservation Association or Cemetery Committee

Most (if not all) active cemeteries are managed by either a cemetery corporation or a cemetery committee; most (if not all) abandoned cemeteries have neither. If your cemetery is an abandoned cemetery, you need to plan for legally organizing a cemetery preservation association. Alabama law provides for two types of nonprofit organizations to manage cemeteries, the nonprofit corporation and the nonprofit association; both will be discussed elsewhere.


Registration

The ACPA recommends you register "your cemetery" with us early in your planning process; instructions are provided on this web site in the Cemetery Register section for that purpose.

The ACPA also recommends you register cemeteries older than 40 years old with the Alabama Historical Commission (AHC) early in your planning process; the necessary instructions and forms are provided in this section for your easy access.

Both the ACPA and AHC Cemetery Register Programs are designed for updating information, status and other data concerning the status of cemeteries as they become available or evolve over time.


Restoration vs. Preservation vs. Maintenance
Which term applies for your cemetery? Restoration means to return to new or near-new condition of the cemetery, markers, fencing, grounds, etc. Preservation (a.k.a. conservation) means to prevent further deterioration, usually by treatments that are as non-intrusive as possible, hopefully are reversible, and that take careful consideration of the original "fabric" to be preserved. Maintenance connotes the wide range of from simply keeping the grass cut to repairing any newly damaged funerary objects to security of the cemetery over the long term. A Perpetual-Care Trust Fund is worth considering for the long-term maintenance of the cemetery. Each of these terms may apply to the cemetery grounds; landscape; tombstones, monuments, markers, etc.; fencing and gates; lighting; access roads and paths; signs; buildings; and any other real property that make up your cemetery and should be planned for accordingly.

If you have broken or deteriorating stones, ACPA recommends you seek professional help for that most important preservation treatment. Perhaps the most important distinction between a restoration firm and a conservator is that the conservator will be a member of the
and will subscribe to their code of ethics and standards of practice. The conservator will provide you with a treatment proposal, explaining exactly what will be done and how; afterwards you will get a treatment report that specifies in even greater detail what was done and what materials were used. Further discussion of treating stone and a list of Conservators are provided under the Restoration Section of this website.


Is the Cemetery Property Recorded as a Cemetery in the County Land Records?
If you don't know the answer to this question, you need to check the county land records at the courthouse. You may have to do a title search. Many abandoned family cemeteries were once recorded as "land set aside as a burying ground" when the land was sold by the owner or during the probate of an estate but that fact was not carried forward in subsequent sells of the land; the original "set aside" is most likely still valid. You may still want a professional surveyor to survey the cemetery to determine its boundaries and make that a matter of record in the county land records. If the cemetery is on property owned by others, this is a requirement to establish you legal rights to visit and care for the cemetery with the County Probate Office. Alabama Law provides procedures to follow to petition the County Judge of Probate to establish a commission to determine the cemetery boundaries and to enter the cemetery designation and land description in the county land records (see the Legislation & Law Section on this website). The AHC will also provide guidance and assistance if you need to take these steps.


AHC Cemetery Permits

Alabama Law requires that the Alabama Historical Commission issue Cemetery Work Permits before any work is accomplished on an historic cemetery (any cemetery 40 years old or older), to include cutting the grass! The AHC requires a Historic Cemetery Preservation Plan to be submitted and approved before issuing a permit. The AHC may issue permits covering specific phases of work depending on how much work may be required. See the Legislation and Laws Section of this website for submitting applications to the AHC for Cemetery Permits.

Other references and discussions will be posted here as they become available.

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