So. My realtor friend recently contacted me frantic and bewildered.
Apparently, she was trying to sell 2 adjacent lots in a subdivision. These lots are owned by her close friends and they purchased them 20+ years ago. Just before he sale closes, someone shows up with a subdivision plat from 1988 that shows a cemetery covering the majority of both lots. As one can imagine, the sell falls flat, she and the owners are upset, and she calls her surveyor friend (Me).
I dug around and found the Subdivision Plat with the cemetery on it as well as a1987 map that depicts the cemetery on the property before it was subdivided. There's even as smaller area within the cemetery drawn with, what looks like, the words "existing graves" noted. (I've attached 2 pics) I call the County Tax Mapper (who is also a surveyor) and ask him how does a subdivision get platted over a cemetery.
"Good question" he says. We have a pleasant conversation and speculate on what could have happened 36 years ago that yielded the current situation.
The next day I receive a call from my realtor friend and her level of irritation is off the chart as she tells me that they changed the GIS so that it now shows a cemetery in the middle of where the two lots were. All that is left of the lots are disjointed, noncontiguous remnants of its previous self.
She has since hired a firm to use Ground Penetrating Radar to scan over both lots. Nothing shows up except for the existing utilities . She brings all this to the County and no one knows what to do.
Now. My questions is: IF, in fact, there are no bodies interred in the area that was marked cemetery, how does one go about legally removing the "Cemetery" designation from the land? Apparently the county doesn't know because it's never been done.
Any Ideas?
Interesting. I'm not familiar with how cemetery and subdivision rules differ, but once again the key lesson here appears to be have a survey done before you buy property. 😏
There are several questions, the first being, at what point in time was the cemetery designation applied and by who? If it was shown on a plan prior to the subdivision, how were the bounds of it located, is there an existing filed description of it? Has the area the cemetery is occupying tax exempt or are taxes paid for the entire platted lots resulting from the subdivision?
It would seem to me that if a cemetery did officially exist there, it would likely be noted in some sort of registry on a state, county or local level as cemeteries are usually regulated by state laws.
There were 2 pics attached. Both were recorded surveys from the register of deeds. Both depicted the cemetery. As far as taxes ... the county never saw it as a cemetery, it never showed up on the GIS, and the owner of the 2 lots were taxed fully for 20+ years since purchasing it. Once it was brought to their attention that the subdivision map that was platted had the cemetery on it, but disregarded it concerning the proposed lot lines (see the 1988 pic) they decided to change the tax map, GIS , and the whole shooting match.
Ooooooh. This could get very nasty. I have no doubt but there are ARE bodies present. Why on Earth any authorizing body signng off on subdivisions would choose to ignore the cemetery is insane.
Long story with a moral. A family moved to a lovely tract in the 1850's prior to legitimate settling. A child dies. They pick a spot near the creek through the middle of their land as a burial site. A few years later another child dies. A few more years and a third child dies. A simple, small limestone is placed at the head and foot of each burial. Twenty years pass and then the mother dies. Same process is followed. In the 1890's the husband dies and is buried with his family and a large tombstone is placed with not only his name but the names and birth and death dates of the other four already buried there. The issue became that the creek kept moving closer over time. Twenty years ago I stood in the dry creekbed and could see how the graves were being consumed by bank erosion. Material, black in color, was seen coming out of the bank and had been pulled along by high water causing it to catch on small trees that grew in the creekbed. The "husband" was a layer of black about four inches thick and 30 inches wide. The "wife" was a layer of black about 2-3 inches thick and about 24 inches wide. Nothing was visible for the "children" suggesting they may have been entirely removed by bank erosion. Other than something like a belt buckle there would be virtually nothing to detect from above.
The sales agent is screwed and needs to walk away having learned a lesson. The landowners need to go after the owners who did the subdivision for whatever legal term is applicable.
My brother bought some investment property in TN. It had a couple trailer houses on it he rented. I can out to visit and discovered a cemetery on the property. He had not listened to me but a realtor and didn’t order the survey. Which I had a friend that was going to do it in for him and barter for him to teach his daughter how to ride horses. Get her started to see if she liked it. Long story short he was not able to get the trailer houses off and split the property to build two homes . The access to the relatives to see and visit the grave sites was still in play. He had no idea. He still made money but not the investment he was looking for.
I have a friend that inherited a 2 acre property from his parents who built their family home on it. In the back of the property is a fenced in roughly 300 year old cemetery that is the final resting place of the family of the legendary "Black Doctor of the Pines" who was self educated and cured people throughout the pines with medicinal native pinelands plants.
Prior to the family home being built, they granted an access easement from the road to the cemetery site. The family ancestors visit the cemetery by foot at various times during the year to maintain the grave sites and hold family remembrances. For over 40 years, there have never been any issues as everybody gets along and respects the grave sites.
Finally got the "upload photo" to work. All who have commented "That's why you should get a survey first" are correct. Actually a few have been performed. However, as you can see in the 1988 survey on the right, the cemetery is clearly drawn on the map (over 2 lots) but these lots were still platted and the subdivision accepted. Not only that, 2 septic permits have been issued by the county in the past and there is no record at the state level of there being a cemetery here. All that coupled with the fact that the whole area was scanned with Ground Penetrating Radar to show absolutely zero ground disturbance (besides the electrical utilities) is quite puzzling.
firestix
the lower right corner of the cemetery parcel on the original survey shows what looks to be a dashed rectangle. It looks to be labeled existing, then I can't read the second word or words.
Can you post what it says?
A buddy of mine bought a lot on a old cemetery in California years ago. All kinds of weird stuff happened there. They had chairs sliding across the kitchen floor, floating orbs and almost lost their daughter. At the end of the day the house collapsed (bad foundation maybe) and slid down the street. Definitely do not build on an old cemetery. It's just bad news.
That's why they made the movie Poltergeist.
Squint real hard while lifting your left foot six inches above the floor. I believe it says: Existing graves
It looks to me like it says "existing graves."
The buyers didn't even need to have a survey done. They and/or their realtor only had to look at the existing subdivision plat before hand to discover the cemetery. Seems like the realtor who sold them the lots 20 years ago dropped the ball.
Depending on how old the cemetary is, before the use of concrete vaults, which would surely show up on GPR, the deceased were often interrred without being embalmed and depending on the soil and moisture, there wouldn't be much left except for a shallow depression where the ground settled. There's an area I've surveyed in that is riddled with old overgrown unmarked graves and you have to be very careful not to stumble into one of these old depressions.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
I thought GPR only reached a couple feet. You sure any skeletons aren't simply out of range?
Is there a possibility that the graves were moved? If so, there should be a record of it. I have worked on several projects where that was the case. One was a small family grave site with 2 Civil War veterans- a Father and Son.
What is dangerous and downright icky to think about is when Mother Nature allows those old boxes to decay to a point that one day the ground is flat and the next there is a hole over a foot deep. If you had stepped on that spot a day or a week earlier your foot would have been stomping on great-great grandpa. I have seen this happen.
It does, in fact say "Existing Graves". At least that's what my old eyes see. However, that portion is in the 20' Drainage Easement. As far as the realtor "dropping the ball", I concur. But how do they get this pushed through as a subdivision with lots platted over a cemetery? How does the county issue septic permits on the 2 lots. How do they charge taxes on the 2 complete lots for 20+ years as if they have no cemetery on them? There is no state record of a cemetery being there. Too many questions here.
Squint real hard while lifting your left foot six inches above the floor. I believe it says: Existing graves
I thought that's what it said, just didn't want to assume. Possibly a family cemetery that was retained for future family members, but never used beyond the original existing graves.
I've seen a lot of small family cemetery's, I have never seen a subdivision ignore it and plat it as house lots like that one does.