Actually Judy, unless the laws have changed, in PA if there hasn't been a burial in 20 years and the graveyard isn't listed as a historical site you CAN remove the stones and do what you want. I used to work recording older cemeteries. The nightmare stories I can tell you. I know of one graveyard that they removed the stones in order for the land owners to resell the plots. I know of a graveyard called the Dale Cemetery in Clearfield County, PA where the church caretaker pokes a rod down through the ground of an old grave. If there is no resistance they resell the grave. We recorded the Dale cemetery and went back a week later to recheck our data entry. One stone we had listed was missing. The caretaker was there and he told us he had buried the stone (strange, but the ground wasn't dug up). When they built the new prison on Clearfield they had to remove a graveyard. They dug up the coffins, had them lined up on the side of the road for weeks. When they finally loaded them on the trucks the guys doing the work were rifling through the caskets for rings and things. What happened to the coffins after that no one knows. I have records of the graveyards in that county and these coffins were never added. True story, my Uncle was a witness. The only reason that the old Perks cemetery was left where it was is because someone was buried there within the past 20 years and they couldn't touch it. This is how I learned about the 20 year law. I have the law as it pertains to old graveyards in PA in my computer somewhere. If anyone wants it I can try to find it for them. Renee Waring

That's depressing, but I can believe it. My grandfather was buried in Philadelphia in 1887 (Glenwood Cemetery, 27th and Ridge). In the 20's the cemetery was dug up and the remains removed to another cemetery of the same name (Glenwood, Broomall Pa.). Accounts of the time talk about grave robbing of the remains as they were excavated. And reburial of remains in a mass grave. On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 4:06 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Actually Judy, unless the laws have changed, in PA if there hasn't been a > burial in 20 years and the graveyard isn't listed as a historical site you > CAN remove the stones and do what you want. I used to work recording > older > cemeteries. The nightmare stories I can tell you. I know of one > graveyard that they removed the stones in order for the land owners to > resell the > plots. I know of a graveyard called the Dale Cemetery in Clearfield > County, > PA where the church caretaker pokes a rod down through the ground of an > old grave. If there is no resistance they resell the grave. We recorded > the > Dale cemetery and went back a week later to recheck our data entry. One > stone we had listed was missing. The caretaker was there and he told us > he > had buried the stone (strange, but the ground wasn't dug up). > > When they built the new prison on Clearfield they had to remove a > graveyard. They dug up the coffins, had them lined up on the side of the > road for > weeks. When they finally loaded them on the trucks the guys doing the > work > were rifling through the caskets for rings and things. What happened to > the coffins after that no one knows. I have records of the graveyards in > that county and these coffins were never added. True story, my Uncle was > a > witness. The only reason that the old Perks cemetery was left where it > was > is because someone was buried there within the past 20 years and they > couldn't touch it. This is how I learned about the 20 year law. I have > the law > as it pertains to old graveyards in PA in my computer somewhere. If > anyone wants it I can try to find it for them. > > Renee Waring > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >