How to Adopt a Cemetery
By Dusty Smith
First of all let me say that I think it's great that you want to restore a historic site. These projects can be very rewarding even though they are time consuming and not cost effective. As of 2007, The International Association of Cemetery Preservationists, Inc. have eleven adopted cemeteries with only one that is completely restored after nearly a decade of hard work and creative ways of raising funds. If you are not willing to put the time and effort into this project that it needs, don't bother starting it.
The first thing you’ll need to find out is who owns the cemetery. This is not always an easy task. If it is a municipality that owns the site, then the site more than likely costs them money to maintain, they should be more than willing to allow you to "adopt" it for restoration and preservation. All you will need to do is find out which city department is in charge of maintaining that particular cemetery and then ask if you can help restore and preserve it. (Here in Florida it's the Department of Road & Bridge that maintains the county owned cemeteries) If the site is privately owned, you will need to find out who owns it and contact those that are in charge of the site. Some privately owned cemeteries are run by corporations that own the cemetery for a tax right off, others are owned by churches, some are owned by stockholders whose stock has been passed down over the years through inheritance, some are owned by people like you who started to restore the site and ran out of funds, time or just became physically unable to keep up with the project anymore.
Contacting a local funeral home or the city or county manager where you live is the easiest way to start your quest for ownership of the site. You may even ask a visitor to the site, if it’s still in use or newly closed for burials if they know who owns it. Some cemeteries in disrepair still have perpetual care fees coming in to them; these fees are generally not enough to maintain the cemetery as a whole. The most I've ever had to do to adopt a cemetery is contact the owner either via phone or email and let them know my intentions. Once you tell them that it will save them money and make them look good once it's done, they usually happily agree. Even if you run across a cemetery that is privately owned, the owners or stockholders are generally more than willing to get help with their site. ALL cemeteries are expensive to keep and maintain and when the last plot is sold and no more funds are coming in, that is when they fall into disrepair.
Once you actually get permission to start a restoration project there are a few things that you need to do to protect yourself, fellow volunteers and the site.
1) Find out what the local laws are on publicly owned cemeteries and their hours of operation are. Here in Florida the law is open dawn to dusk unless you are the legal owner of the cemetery, then you can make the hours of operation anything that you want. You will then need to post a sign with the name of the cemetery, the address and the times of operation. (Some municipalities require that the lettering be 4" tall by at least 2" wide and legible from a minimum of 25' away.) It can’t hurt to see if a local sign shop will donate the sign you need; tell them it’s a tax right off. Some municipalities will also donate a sign to your cemetery, especially if they own it. This route will take up to several months and you could still wind up being charged for the sign. The sign should be weather proof and bolted firmly to a wooden 4’ x 4” pole or standard metal sign pole; vandals know the laws and may try to take your sign so they don’t get arrested for being in the cemetery after posted closing hours.
Closed Dusk - Dawn
2) Register the location as a "trespass arrest site" with local law enforcement. Once you start restoring the site, you don't want vandals coming in behind you and doing more damage or damage to the recently fixed sites. This is very easy to do. Contact your local police department about it; they normally have a standardized form for you to fill out. This way if anyone is caught trespassing, they will be arrested and word spreads through the local teen communities very fast and within a short time, they will find somewhere else to "hangout." If the cemetery is owned by a municipality, the City or County may have to sign a letter stating that you are the "caretaker" of the cemetery or that you have permission to take on this responsibility for them, before you can get this done. Also, if you do this, you may be the one that gets called at 4:00 AM to sign the arrest sheet. So be aware of all that this particular responsibility entails before you sign up for it. Again, it depends on the laws in your area.
You may also need to post "No Trespassing" signs every 50-100' depending on the local laws. Make yourself WELL known to the local police officers and tell them that you have registered the site as a trespass arrest site. Police officers like these places because they make for VERY easy arrests.
You may also want to run "security" a few nights to see who you can catch. DO NOT do this alone! Always have a flashlight, extra batteries and your cell phone ready to go in case you catch a trespasser. Never confront them! That is a job for law enforcement. Try to get as much information as possible for them though; tag number, vehicle description, physical description, direction they headed, etc..
Send donations via Paypal to email address: Dusty@iacpinc.org 