> It just so happened the cemetery > in question is located in the back yard of this particular residence. Both > before, and following my introducing myself and explaining my interest in > this cemetery I was told, in a rather pointed, direct and mildly venomous > fashion that the cemetery was "on private property", "hers", and that I > would not be allowed acess. This caught my attention because a similar question was addressed on another list, and it was determined that the law in that state (MO) required "reasonable access" to cemeteries on private property. I just spent about 90 minutes combing through NY Code and using various law search engines as well as standard engines such as Dogpile and Google, and found nothing about this sort of situation. Perhaps there is a lawyer on the list or somone with better search skills than mine who could clarify what rights belong to the public and how they are balanced against private property rights in such cases. It does seem as though Erwin encountered someone who might not be moved--at least not in a helpful direction--by reference to the law, and it is true that private property owners do have legitimate concerns about their liability exposure, etc., when people enter their property, and of course we should treat property owners with the consideration we would want for ourselves (as Erwin clearly did). But does anyone know if it is legal in NY to bar access to a cemetery on private property?