Public Policy for Preservation of Historic Burial Sites & Cemeteries of Centre County

Public policy governing the protection of cemeteries is a key tool to preserving the historical importance of any given burying ground. Whether it be a thousand year old archaeological site or a mid-19th century village burying ground, these rules and regulations often define what is considered (at the time) to be of historical importance and contribute to the preservationist's toolbelt in helping to protect them for future study and appreciation.

139 - Yearick Cemetery

National

National guidelines for historic burial grounds are found as a subset of the guidelines for the National Register of Historic Places under the US Department of the Interior. Burial sites are not normally accepted into the Register. The DOI states that the natural reverence and sentiment may "overshadow" the objectification necessary to view historical and cultural resources.

However, burial sites can still be accepted into the Register providing that they meet all the criteria for acceptance into the Register as well meeting additional requirements set forth by their "Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering Cemeteries and Burial Places." Though this does make it more difficult to find recognition for a cemetery at the National Preservation level, there are over 1,700 burial sites which have already been added since 1966.

For a cemetery to qualify for the National Register it must pass the test and then it must also "justify" its qualification since it is already excepted from qualification. Basically, it has to be important, and then some.

To find a place on the Register, any site must be important for one or more of the following reasons:

1. its relation to important events


2. its relation to historically important people


3. its embodiment of "distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction", or if that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction"


4. if the site has the potential to yield more information important in history or prehistory.

But most cemeteries will often have to pass extra criteria considerations. These extra considerations are needed primarily to avoid the inclusion of sentiment, specific religious ties, and the "apparent" historical importance of commemoration versus an original event. These extra considerations are given primary importance in the Guidelines for Burial Places booklet and several examples of each consideration (there are 7) are given.

For Centre County, the guidelines invite few cemeteries. Under Criterion D, based on a site's "potential", one might consider the Indian Burial Grounds. Unfortunately, many of the other cemeteries which are culturally valuable to the region will find difficulty in passing the Special Criteria of cemeteries. In many cases, the cemeteries which offer the broadest range of types and styles, and even important people, are still active cemeteries, forcing the cemetery to "justify" its inclusion. In many other cases, the cemeteries are still part of a religious nature, also requiring their "justification."

Though the actual guidelines for nominating a cemetery into the Historic Register are somewhat foreboding, what the guidebook offers Centre County's attempts at preserving their burial grounds may be more valuable than any nomination into the Register. The guidebook offers Section V: Documenting and Registering Cemeteries and Burial Places. This chapter, designed for those involved in the qualification process, becomes a wealth of detailed considerations one must examine when surveying and documenting cemeteries. This section of the guidebook is the "how-to" for those involved in documenting and preserving Centre County's burial sites, regardless of their eligibility in the National Register.

055 - Heckman Cemetery

State

State laws do offer a broader range of inclusion in its historical recognition than the National Register guidelines. Found under Title 9 is Pennsylvania's Historical Burial Places Preservation Act which does offer some legal protection and preservation assistance over some of the burial grounds in Centre County.

Pennsylvania law defines a "Historic burial place" primarily as:

"A tract of land that has been in existence as a burial ground for more than 100 years wherein there have been no burials for at least 50 years and wherein there will be no future burials or listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places as determined by the Pennsylvania Historic Commission."

This allows for several cemeteries in Centre County to receive some aid in their preservation through the state. What Title 9 and the Historic Burial Places Preservation Act offers to these qualifying burial sites is protection from municipality appropriation, guaranteed site survey if the site is appropriated, limited liability for those engaged in the preservation of sites as well as land-owners of those sites, and protects the material existence of burial sites by limiting the destruction and removal of any tangible element of a burial site(including fences).

By legal definition, all that we have often referred to as cemeteries are not cemeteries at all.With consideration to Centre County, the most important thing to consider with regards to Pennsylvania's regulations of cemeteries is that the state does not consider family plots "cemeteries." Legally, these are burial sites and are not protected by any of the regulations and rules of "cemeteries." They are, however, included in the Historical Burial Places Preservation Act. At first this seems like an important inclusion for such an act, but it still places "family plots" at a disadvantage.

Though this broader definition does include a handful of cemeteries within Centre County, and will include several more within the next decade, it still largely prohibits the inclusion of many of Centre County's oldest and most neglected cemeteries. For many of these smaller plots, family and otherwise, the 50 years of no burials is not difficult to prove, many have been inactive for over a hundred years. Unfortunately, many of these smaller plots only actively existed for a short period of time before burial practices were moved to larger community and church cemeteries. For these cemeteries, often with only a handful of existing stones, it becomes difficult to prove whether the plot was in active existence for the allotted 100 years, even if it indeed was. Given their omission, at both National and State levels, it becomes imperative to protect these burial sites at the local level.