The tract involved is a simple rectangle.?ÿ Begin 330 feet from point A on the north section line, go south 330 feet; go east 580 feet; go north 330 feet to north section line; close by going 580 feet west.
Northwest corner to northeast corner of tract is 22 feet short and the tract starts 50 feet too far east.?ÿ I can understand getting whopperjawed trying to find south.?ÿ But,?ÿ mismeasuring 330 feet by 50 feet along a visible straight line with a starting point that couldn't be off more than a couple of feet is outrageous.?ÿ It's not a case of starting from a fence instead of an intersection, either.
This is going to be fun to explain to the committee who has employed us.
Cemetery? Comitee?
N
holy cow,?ÿ What year was this done?
1978, I believe.?ÿ A fraction of the tract came into existence in about 1880 but that has no significance in the errors mentioned above.
I am positive that a surveyor had no role in the 1978 action.?ÿ Everyone working that immediate area who might have been called to do it made filing their surveys with the County as routine as waking up tomorrow.
I can see maybe not putting the north section line where it is determined to be today by a few feet, but that has no impact on the measurement discrepancies along it.
Haven't studied the data yet but the sketch the caretaker uses to locate graves measures off the fences that were surely built about 1978 or more recently.?ÿ There are only 25 or so graves total but I'm betting some of them are outside the deed lines.?ÿ The end goal is to layout enough new lots to handle the neighborhood for about the next 300 years, maybe more.
for about the next 300 years, maybe more.
Now that's long-term planning.?ÿ
But I don't think it is possible to make good estimates of either area population or funerary practices that far away. For one thing, cremation has become a lot more common during our lifetimes and that trend could continue, vastly reducing the need for expanded land. And rural population could continue to decline, or dramatic changes could have everybody moving back out of the cities.?ÿ Or the next pandemic could nearly wipe us out so the following 100 years saw fewer births and deaths.
You are absolutely correct. Predicting the future is not my strong point.
The area they are currently using consists of 70 lots.?ÿ That translates to 350 burial spots.?ÿ That leaves about 325 unoccupied spots today.?ÿ The township most likely to use this space consists of about 48 square miles and had a population in 2010 of 258 people.?ÿ The original cemetery, which is across the road, still has many unused burial spots that have already been purchased.
I laid out an addition to another rural cemetery about 30 miles from this one about 22 years ago.?ÿ So far no one has been planted in the addition.
Another cemetery board contacted me in 1991 to see about trying to expand because they were approaching a time when they would have no spots available.?ÿ We finally completed the addition about five years ago.?ÿ The first burial in the addition took place a few months ago.
A different rural cemetery board called on me to create an expansion about 10 years ago.?ÿ Over fifty burials have been made in the addition since then.?ÿ The sad thing is that more than a handful of those are people with whom I attended school at some time.?ÿ All but one were due to cancer.?ÿ ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) took one, veeeeery slowly.
On the other hand, rural cemeteries close to bigger towns have been filling much more quickly than normal.?ÿ The rural cemeteries have set very low prices on their lots, which accommodate four to six burials each compared to the "city" cemeteries.?ÿ The local funeral homes have steered many of their low income families to these cemeteries, thus rapidly filling the available space.?ÿ?ÿ
On the other hand, rural cemeteries close to bigger towns have been filling much more quickly than normal.?ÿ
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Does this have anything to do with The Covid?
No connection there.
It's because the funeral directors are pointing their clientele to the much more inexpensive alternative when final location is somewhat unimportant.
