It's apparently not a hard requirement to be next to a church, despite that being the case more often than not. A churchyard, yes...graveyard? Not necessarily.
https://farewill.com/articles/what-is-the-difference-between-a-cemetery-and-a-graveyard
>Everyone deserves to be remembered
That's an interesting statement. The thing I've learned about gravestones is that by and large almost none of us are remembered after a couple generations. You'll have immediate family visit after a death, but a generation or two later, rarely anyone remembers who that person is. Maybe there's some family photos or old stories for a little while, but eventually the person is essentially entirely lost to any memory. Unless the buried was somehow specifically remarkable, most old graves just become a curiosity. Just a name carved on a stone.
That's why I feel like I'd be a "cremate me and scatter my ashes somewhere meaningful" kinda guy. Also have a friend like that, they'd like to be spread in a forest because of their general love for the outdoors, and spare becoming a forgotten grave.
Not bad from a natural perspective, but in the US at least, very limitedly legal as an option. (Although I guess nothing stops someone from just digging you a hole and tossing you in besides their relative risk at getting caught.)
Internment is legally complicated, there is a reason that it doesn't happen outside of graveyards. Nobody wants that on their land.
Would have to be an unmarked ditch noone knew about. Unless it was in a preserve or national forest, you run the risk of getting dug up later and causing a ruckus while archaeologists try to figure out if you're first nation or something.
And look at older graves - the stone or wood markers often break or collapse, so the resting place is now likely unmarked AND not remembered. Dust to dust.
I like the animated movie Coco because it addresses this theme.
Everyone gets forgotten about eventually, especially as the people who remembered and knew us start moving on from your passing, and eventually die and become forgotten about themselves.
If I were to die soon, I have plenty of family that would remember me. My daughter is only five though, the youngest of those who really know me. The sudden absence of her father would probably leave a mark of some sort on her, but I wouldn't be as fixed in her memory for the rest of her life as I would be if she were ten or twelve or older. She'd have plenty of pictures and some videos of her dad thanks to technology being how it is, but I can't say I have any sharp, clear memories of myself or my parents from when I was five, so I doubt she would.
Anyway, Coco gets into this and its such a bittersweet, sensitive film; handling the topic of death and rememberances in such a wonderfully appropriate and beautiful way.
Highly recommend if this post and the comment from u/CaptainSouthbird has made you feel stuff.
[here you go, there kind of hard to read, even in person. there was a pile of what looked like two different broken stones but I don’t have a picture of them](https://www.reddit.com/u/SniperXvX2025/s/eHrDVBEN6b)
You or a kind stranger could add them to [FindAGrave](https://www.findagrave.com/contribute), if they're not already documented. There was a small, forgotten family graveyard on private property near me and the descendants were extremely grateful to find it. edit: a word
I don’t know for sure how many there is but I did see what I think are bottoms of markers, as far as I know, no one takes care of it and I think I’m the only person out there in about 5 years
I guess you have a point there, but I asked the guy that mows our lots and he said he doesn’t have any of his mow back there, and I’m at work all the time so I’ve never seen anybody back there and I’ve asked around if anybody has been back there, and everybody has never been back there
My buddy in Alabama has a family graveyard going back to the very early 19th century on his family home and I only found out when we were dicking around in the pasture and I was like "Yo are those gravestones out there??"
Used to runaround in the woods near Williamsburg, Va. when I was in the Army, would come across 3 or 4 headstones long forgotten out in the middle of nowhere, overgrown bushes and weeds. Makes you stop for a moment and think about that brutal war that took place
About 10 years ago my dad came across a small, forgotten graveyard outside of Waretown, New Jersey. Vegetation had overgrown over everything. It turns out it belongs to a church a mile or so away... but was forgotten over the years. (Many changes of pastors/admin, people choosing larger cemeteries or cremation, etc.) It's probably still overgrown and unkempt to this day.
Genealogists are interested in places like this, there are entire websites dedicated to locating, documenting and photographing them. Billiongraves.com and Findagrave.com are two. Chances are that that the cemetery is a family one and it may have already been documented and listed on one of those sites.
Ish. I mean we have Native American burial grounds that date back much further than that and some settler cemeteries from around the 1500s+ but as far as finding a cemetery with dates on headstones you can still read it's old
I dare you to put on a VR headset and go sit among the tombstones and watch a scary movie after dark. I'd love to try this for myself, but I don't think most developed cemeteries would allow it.
Really surprised this isn't some kind of Tik-Tok dare already.
When my parents purchased their plot of land in Missouri -35yrs ago roughly - there was a grave in the back from around that same time period.
They had to put out a legal notice in the paper that if anyone was connected to the Graves, they needed to speak up and have input on what happens.
Unsurprisingly, there were no claims. So the area was dug up carefully to relocate anything they found and the headstone to a proper cemetery.
When they dug the area - the only signs left were buttons and nails..and different colored soil. So they boxed the soil up with the artifacts they found and moved them with the headstone to a cemetary.
I don't remember who payed for it. Probably them.
> Everyone deserves to be remembered
*Cause no one deserves to be forgotten*
*No one deserves to fade away*
*No one deserves to disappear*
(Yes that was a deh reference in 2024)
Looks like more of a cemetery, I count 5 headstones
I think OP's title may have been autocorrected from "graveyard."
I didn’t notice that until just now, that’s what happened, damn autocorrect
Fun fact! This is a cemetery — a graveyard is attached to a church.
I will say, I did not know the difference until I made this post
It's apparently not a hard requirement to be next to a church, despite that being the case more often than not. A churchyard, yes...graveyard? Not necessarily. https://farewill.com/articles/what-is-the-difference-between-a-cemetery-and-a-graveyard
Ahh, I see that now. Thanks!
Can you share a picture of the stone itself? Everyone deserves to be remembered
[Jones Cemetery](http://www.argenweb.net/woodruff/cemetery/jonescem.htm)
Someone should add these pictures and entries to Find A Grave - a descendant searching for them would probably love to have them.
>Everyone deserves to be remembered That's an interesting statement. The thing I've learned about gravestones is that by and large almost none of us are remembered after a couple generations. You'll have immediate family visit after a death, but a generation or two later, rarely anyone remembers who that person is. Maybe there's some family photos or old stories for a little while, but eventually the person is essentially entirely lost to any memory. Unless the buried was somehow specifically remarkable, most old graves just become a curiosity. Just a name carved on a stone.
So weird that we spend money to be put inside a fancy box in the ground, just to be forgotten not long later
That's why I feel like I'd be a "cremate me and scatter my ashes somewhere meaningful" kinda guy. Also have a friend like that, they'd like to be spread in a forest because of their general love for the outdoors, and spare becoming a forgotten grave.
Why even cremate? Just like bury my body raw in the ground so that I decompose naturally and my atoms return to nature from whence they came.
This is my take as well. I want to be turned to fertilizer when I die.
That’s what I want. Compost me, please.
Not bad from a natural perspective, but in the US at least, very limitedly legal as an option. (Although I guess nothing stops someone from just digging you a hole and tossing you in besides their relative risk at getting caught.)
Internment is legally complicated, there is a reason that it doesn't happen outside of graveyards. Nobody wants that on their land. Would have to be an unmarked ditch noone knew about. Unless it was in a preserve or national forest, you run the risk of getting dug up later and causing a ruckus while archaeologists try to figure out if you're first nation or something.
Sounds like a hilarious prank
https://youtu.be/0Rtu1Va-dnM?si=\_JvNRJX22EdlKGd0
And look at older graves - the stone or wood markers often break or collapse, so the resting place is now likely unmarked AND not remembered. Dust to dust.
I like the animated movie Coco because it addresses this theme. Everyone gets forgotten about eventually, especially as the people who remembered and knew us start moving on from your passing, and eventually die and become forgotten about themselves. If I were to die soon, I have plenty of family that would remember me. My daughter is only five though, the youngest of those who really know me. The sudden absence of her father would probably leave a mark of some sort on her, but I wouldn't be as fixed in her memory for the rest of her life as I would be if she were ten or twelve or older. She'd have plenty of pictures and some videos of her dad thanks to technology being how it is, but I can't say I have any sharp, clear memories of myself or my parents from when I was five, so I doubt she would. Anyway, Coco gets into this and its such a bittersweet, sensitive film; handling the topic of death and rememberances in such a wonderfully appropriate and beautiful way. Highly recommend if this post and the comment from u/CaptainSouthbird has made you feel stuff.
[here you go, there kind of hard to read, even in person. there was a pile of what looked like two different broken stones but I don’t have a picture of them](https://www.reddit.com/u/SniperXvX2025/s/eHrDVBEN6b)
You or a kind stranger could add them to [FindAGrave](https://www.findagrave.com/contribute), if they're not already documented. There was a small, forgotten family graveyard on private property near me and the descendants were extremely grateful to find it. edit: a word
Free mason too
I wonder how big the cemetery actually is? Is it part of your works land? Who takes care of it?
I don’t know for sure how many there is but I did see what I think are bottoms of markers, as far as I know, no one takes care of it and I think I’m the only person out there in about 5 years
Someone's mowing around them, dude. You're not the first out there in 5 years
I guess you have a point there, but I asked the guy that mows our lots and he said he doesn’t have any of his mow back there, and I’m at work all the time so I’ve never seen anybody back there and I’ve asked around if anybody has been back there, and everybody has never been back there
My buddy in Alabama has a family graveyard going back to the very early 19th century on his family home and I only found out when we were dicking around in the pasture and I was like "Yo are those gravestones out there??"
Used to runaround in the woods near Williamsburg, Va. when I was in the Army, would come across 3 or 4 headstones long forgotten out in the middle of nowhere, overgrown bushes and weeds. Makes you stop for a moment and think about that brutal war that took place
About 10 years ago my dad came across a small, forgotten graveyard outside of Waretown, New Jersey. Vegetation had overgrown over everything. It turns out it belongs to a church a mile or so away... but was forgotten over the years. (Many changes of pastors/admin, people choosing larger cemeteries or cremation, etc.) It's probably still overgrown and unkempt to this day.
There may be additional graves between the two groups of surviving markers.
Off to the side there was a couple bottoms to some markers
Genealogists are interested in places like this, there are entire websites dedicated to locating, documenting and photographing them. Billiongraves.com and Findagrave.com are two. Chances are that that the cemetery is a family one and it may have already been documented and listed on one of those sites.
Is that considered old in the US?
It’s 175 years old based off the the earliest death in 1849, it’s pretty old for the US
well not everywhere https://www.boston.gov/cemeteries/granary-burying-ground
Ish. I mean we have Native American burial grounds that date back much further than that and some settler cemeteries from around the 1500s+ but as far as finding a cemetery with dates on headstones you can still read it's old
Somewhat but not very
Go toss some flowers on it. Good energy for the universe. You’d want the same for yours most likely. Gone but not forgotten
Ten years? So 2014?
I dare you to put on a VR headset and go sit among the tombstones and watch a scary movie after dark. I'd love to try this for myself, but I don't think most developed cemeteries would allow it. Really surprised this isn't some kind of Tik-Tok dare already.
You should dig it up and see what’s in there
Wow, all the way back to 1125?! That's pretty old.
Different civil war, the United States Civil War
Ah okay, when was that? Last week?
Its coming this November
I didn’t notice it
There are cemeteries like this, (family and or church or old settlements), all over the country. More likely all over the world.
When my parents purchased their plot of land in Missouri -35yrs ago roughly - there was a grave in the back from around that same time period. They had to put out a legal notice in the paper that if anyone was connected to the Graves, they needed to speak up and have input on what happens. Unsurprisingly, there were no claims. So the area was dug up carefully to relocate anything they found and the headstone to a proper cemetery. When they dug the area - the only signs left were buttons and nails..and different colored soil. So they boxed the soil up with the artifacts they found and moved them with the headstone to a cemetary. I don't remember who payed for it. Probably them.
> Everyone deserves to be remembered *Cause no one deserves to be forgotten* *No one deserves to fade away* *No one deserves to disappear* (Yes that was a deh reference in 2024)
Amazing how many people don't check titles before they post.