Cemetary Caches

August 5, 2004

I have found several caches around the perimeter of cemetaries, but none actually in one. I have been contemplating placing a microcache in or near a local cemetary, and I want opinions. This particular location is a very old cemetary, and is very much like a park. The spot isn't actually on any gravesites (actually it's in a hollow tree beside the little road that winds through the cemetary). Has anyone placed a cache in the bounds of a cemetary, or is it just plain disrespectful?

3.9k · August 5, 2004

It's been done many times. I have personally found 3 that were in cemetaries, and have placed 2 that involved a cemetary. It really depends on how it's done wether it's tasteful or not. Both of my hidden caches involved getting information from historical headstones.

You are going to get varied opinons on this topic, so just do what's comfortable for you.

El Diablo

2.6k · August 5, 2004

Go for it.

August 5, 2004

Also... should permission be obtained, or is that not a requirement since it's a public area?

August 5, 2004

Also... should permission be obtained, or is that not a requirement since it's a public area?

I don't know the answer to your question, but wanted to mention that at least in MY area, cemetaries are privately owned and operated...so they are technically not "public". You would have to get permission from the owners/operators here, but I don't know if that's the same everywhere...

August 5, 2004

We consider older, inactive cemeteries to be a great source of local history. If placing a cache in or near the cemetery brings people to it, then that's a great thing, especially the younger generations. How many of us know the source of some of the roads we travel on, names of schools we attend, or the history of the town we live in or pass through? We have learned a great deal just by perusing through cemeteries, reading names and dates, and are always surprised at how many names we recognize, although they've been buried for well over a century. Our goal for caches we place in or around cemeteries is that those who seek them can appreciate the significance of who came before us and the influences they have on our daily lives. Just remember to be careful where you place it, so nothing is ever disturbed or affected in any way.

2k · August 5, 2004

Also... should permission be obtained, or is that not a requirement since it's a public area?

You should not need permission to place a cache in a public place, you should be fine.

Edited to add: I have placed a couple in cemetaries.

Edited August 5, 2004 by Milbank

August 5, 2004

I didn't take the time to look it up but I think I remeber a thread where it was stated by tptb that cemetary caches had to have permission from the cemetary owners before placement. It might be advisable to check with your local admin before placing the cache. I believe the olders caches were grandfathered in but new ones were being discouraged. Perhaps one of the admins could comment on this topic.

August 5, 2004

I have found several caches hidden in cemeteries and one micro that was inches from a headstone...

On the public or private question, I think you will find that many are on "private property", operated commercially/owned by the adjacent or nearby church/old family cemetery on old family property. I think very few are actually "public property". I think most of them generally allow unrestricted access to people visiting the permanent residents, but I'm not sure how the owners would react to our little game being played there...

But...I'm in! :huh:

Edit: That'll teach me to accept a spell check word

Edited August 5, 2004 by The Commissar

August 5, 2004

To clarify, it is a very old cemetary, but it's also currently in use. The area that interests me is full of very old headstones (late 1800's), but in other areas there are still available lots and recent burials. I believe it is city owned and operated, and I can only imagine the headache involved with obtaining permission (or denial) from city government.

August 5, 2004

To clarify, it is a very old cemetary, but it's also currently in use. The area that interests me is full of very old headstones (late 1800's), but in other areas there are still available lots and recent burials. I believe it is city owned and operated, and I can only imagine the headache involved with obtaining permission (or denial) from city government.

You could always make it a virtual. There are often some hilarious plots in onld cemetaries. I remember one in Greenville SC, where a woman was burried. On each side of her were two very fancy headstones, "Beloved this and that...." for her dogs. Her husband's? Very plain, with only his name and dates.

But if you do a traditional cache, I'd say remember the guideline about no digging :huh:

1.6k · August 5, 2004

Way back when...before municipalities ever thought about providing 'green space', cemetaries often served some of the same functions as parks do today. People would gather and have picnics and otherwise recreate on what was, at the time, some of the only available land that was common and kept up.

Of course, that was when death was considered a natural part of life and folks were buried simply-no embalming, no cement vaults, and the body was laid out in its owner's bed during the wake period.

My personal feelings are that the residents of a cemetary are probably not too concerned with what is going on with the land they are under, but that the living (and their grief) should be respected. We often hunt cemetary caches at night to avoid interupting any families that may be present.

August 5, 2004

That might be the best thing in this case. There is a certain group of headstones that are the theme of the cache, and they would make an excellent virtual cache. There is a regular cache within a few miles, and two microcaches, but no virtuals.

On the other hand, I have found an excellent hiding spot for a microcache :huh:

4.1k · August 5, 2004

It is a better past time than was being done in John & my teenage years----it seems other teenagers really liked to go 'park' in the different cemetaries surrounding our small towns in Indiana. We always thought that was a bit morbid for our taste, but to each his own.

I vote yes. Go ahead & E-Mail your approver with the cemetary that you are thinking about & how you plan on placing the cache. Pre-approval questions usually make things easier all the way around & then you will be sure if it is allowed in your particular area.

My one favorite cache is in a pet cemetary...very interesting place.

Just the musings of the Female oldfart.

Shirley~

August 5, 2004

That brings up a question. How do I determine who the approver is in my area? This is my first cache placement, and all I have seen is the form for submittal (not an actual list of approvers).

3.9k · August 5, 2004

That brings up a question. How do I determine who the approver is in my area? This is my first cache placement, and all I have seen is the form for submittal (not an actual list of approvers).

Depends on the area you live in.

El Diablo

6.5k · August 5, 2004

Here's my nickel-it won't get approved as a virtual. Just not WOW enough unless it's Einstein's grave or someone of that stature. f you aren't sure about who to contact for permission, then make it a multi using the info off of the headstones to lead the seeker to the final resting spot of the cache (pun intended.)

This way you will take people to see these old and special stones, but don't risk offending anyone (I wouldn't be), by actually hiding it in the cemetary itself.

As far as contacting your approver-there is no published list we can access. Submit your cache, it will go into some approver's queue, and they will contact you if there are any questions or issues to discuss before approval.

When you reply to them be sure to give the GC# assigned to the cache, its name, and use the method of response they indicate is their preference. Just posting a note on the unapproved cache page won't do it usually. There is also a box on the submission form to give them info you do not want to appear on the cache page itself. I use it on almost every submission. It usually saves time.

Good Luck and I hope I get to look for your cemetary cache soon.

August 5, 2004

I've hidden several cemetery caches. I was told by my local approver that if the cemetery is no longer in use - no permission is required. If it is, you have to get permission from the owner/caretaker to place the cache inside the cemetery. Also I was required to put on the cache page if the cache was located inside the cemetery or just outside the cemetery. If the cache was hidden inside the cemetery, I had to note that it was placed with permission.

August 5, 2004

If you're from the Northwest GA or Northeast AL area, your approver will probably the same as mine was, eric88l-r.

August 5, 2004

yes I am in NW Ga. I placed the cache a few minutes ago, and hopefully it will be approved. If it is... Heads Up. Good FTF opportunity coming up

August 5, 2004

Do not, i repeat do not place a cache in a graveyard. It causes problems. Cemetery workers dont always know that there is a cache there, and if they see people frequently poking around in a graveyard there gonna call the police. Anyways its not right to dishonor the departed by placing a cache near the resting place.

2.3k · August 5, 2004

Anyways its not right to dishonor the departed by placing a cache near the resting place.

LOL -- Ya'll can place as many micros/multis as you can fit on my grave when the day comes. In fact, I invite it! Maybe I'll have a special tombstone built with a tiny compartment.

And of course, I'll be buried buns-up so folks will have a place to park their bicycle!

August 5, 2004

yes I am in NW Ga. I placed the cache a few minutes ago, and hopefully it will be approved. If it is... Heads Up. Good FTF opportunity coming up

I'll keep my eyes open, but the race to FTF around there's pretty tough.

LOL -- Ya'll can place as many micros/multis as you can fit on my grave when the day comes. In fact, I invite it! Maybe I'll have a special tombstone built with a tiny compartment.

And of course, I'll be buried buns-up so folks will have a place to park their bicycle!

Yeah, I used to think that I wanted to be cremated, but then I started geocaching. Now I'm going to be buried in a nice cemetery with marker suitable for hiding a cache. I think I'll put it in my will. :mellow:

August 5, 2004

Thats fine you can put a cache on your grave but you shoudl'nt insult the departed by putting a cache near people have been dead for along time.

August 5, 2004

Thats fine you can put a cache on your grave but you shoudl'nt insult the departed by putting a cache near people have been dead for along time.

SL- calm down. I've never seen a Cemetery cache that wasn't respectfully placed and nicely done. You are in California, go check out Evergreen in Riverside if you ever get a chance. Very nice mulit-virtual in an old graveyard.

Geograss- you may want to do a search on Cemetary and read all the other discussions about these types of caches for more information.

-Jennifer

3k · August 5, 2004

Thats fine you can put a cache on your grave but you shoudl'nt insult the departed by putting a cache near people have been dead for along time.

An expert already aye?

May I suggest more reading and less posting....

It helps to read up first and get the lay of the land before jumping in head first.

Just some unsolicited advice for ya.

August 5, 2004

Sorry, i was just frustrated because i dont think its right to disturb or have people walking around and looking under rocks in a graveyard (figure of speech).

I think that dishonors our ancestors who worked hard to make the world we live in today (even the world is kind of messed up because of war). Oh well.

I guess its alright just if someone does do it make it nice.

:unsure: :mellow:

August 5, 2004

Dishonor or honor... Many cemetaries are ignored/ misused/ overgrown/ in poor condition, etc. My example, Evergreen in Riverside, CA- half the cemetery is in terrible condition (unendowed= no money for repairs) and half is well kept up. Without people visiting these places they will continue to be ignored and their condition will continue to degrade. At least with geocachers visiting them we know that SOMEONE is taking some of the trash out, and noting their condition.

Read some of the logs for that cache.

Also, many of the cemetarys I have visited have tombstones which were specially created for their "owner". Why go through all that trouble if noone will ever see it? Cemetarys originally doubled as parks in many areas and their statues and architechure (sp) is amazing. Spend some time in your local one, you will learn a lot of history if you pay attention to the dates, names and memorials.

-Jennifer

August 5, 2004

Thanks for the input .

1.8k · August 5, 2004

I can think of at least a half dozen caches in Southern California that I've done in cemeteries (and many more that I haven't done); I have yet to see one single complaint about the tastefulness of any of the cache hides. I certainly look forward to visiting the Evergreen cache one of these days too...

3.9k · August 5, 2004

I was told by my local approver that if the cemetery is no longer in use - no permission is required.

Does that mean in use by the living, or those dearly departed?

El Diablo

1.8k · August 5, 2004

I was told by my local approver that if the cemetery is no longer in use - no permission is required.

Does that mean in use by the living, or those dearly departed?

El Diablo

:mellow: :unsure:

August 5, 2004

One of my more enjoyed caches was this one:

Jeepers Creepers

Based in a very old Cemetery where many of the original settlers of the area are buried going back over 100 years. The cache is very tastefully placed, showing no disrespect to anthing in the area.

There were reports of some cachers searching in the wrong corner and finding remains tho.. Not sure of the validity of the reports.

1.5k · August 5, 2004

Everey cache that I've ever done that involved a cemetary was a Multi/Puzzle caches and involved finding certain grave stones and using the dates to calculate the final coordinates which were outside the cemetary.

This seems a much more respectfull way to do a cemetary cache

August 5, 2004

Everey cache that I've ever done that involved a cemetary was a Multi/Puzzle caches and involved finding certain grave stones and using the dates to calculate the final coordinates which were outside the cemetary.

This seems a much more respectfull way to do a cemetary cache

Speaking of puzzle/quiz gravestone caches, I really should finish this one up since I figured it out.

This is one of the best puzzle caches I have done. worth a look.

The Talented Mr Bean

August 5, 2004

A link to Evergreen multistep-Virtual cache:

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=76979

-Jennifer

2.4k · August 6, 2004

Anyways its not right to dishonor the departed by placing a cache near the resting place.

LOL -- Ya'll can place as many micros/multis as you can fit on my grave when the day comes. In fact, I invite it! Maybe I'll have a special tombstone built with a tiny compartment.

HEY, I already claimed that idea.....well, you can have the tiny compartment, I'm going with a fake top that lifts off to reveal a .50 cal ammo can.

I figure I already found a cache placed UNDER a tombstone, I may as well have one IN a tombstone.......

August 6, 2004

Thats fine you can put a cache on your grave but you shoudl'nt insult the departed by putting a cache near people have been dead for along time.

This topic has been beaten to death itself, but I am always up for more disussion...

I'm not too sure that the dead folks really care all that much anymore about what is going on on a 8 foot by 4 foot piece of property they happen to be lying under....

I have seen a dog poop/pee on a gravesite...was that dog dishonoring the person in that grave??

I personally feel like caching is the LEAST offensive thing that can be done by humans on a gravesite......winos that hang out in graveyards, kids that go there to "get wild" and party, etc etc etc ......

I work in downtown Pittsburgh and the whole downtown area is built on an area once inhabited by Native Amercians.....it is very likely that dead folks from LOOOOONG ago are buried somewhere under the streets etc but no one seems to be too worried about those folks.....

Dead folks are dead. Their bodies would be dust after a few years if it werent for pickling and cement vaulats and copper/steel caskets......

We should worry more about disprespecting the living than the dead. Just IMHO and my $.02.

August 6, 2004

I was told by my local approver that if the cemetery is no longer in use - no permission is required.

Does that mean in use by the living, or those dearly departed?

El Diablo

Meaning no one's being buried there anymore and there is no caretaker...it's been abandoned by all but who are buried there. No longer in use isn't quite the correct phrase I guess.

August 6, 2004

Thanks for all of the facts and opinions. I placed the microcache near the cemetary, but not actually in it. The coordinates lead to the headstones that I wanted to highlight, and then I gave further directions to the cache from there. Visitors can walk a straight line from the headstone to the cache and trample nary a grave. It was approved this morning, it's in zip code 30176, and I can't wait for someone to find it

2.5k · August 6, 2004

Do not, i repeat do not place a cache in a graveyard. It causes problems. Cemetery workers dont always know that there is a cache there, and if they see people frequently poking around in a graveyard there gonna call the police. Anyways its not right to dishonor the departed by placing a cache near the resting place.

How is a cacher walking through a cemetary any different than me seeking out the final resting place of the only Titanic Survivor from Ashtabula County? The worst thing was, I asked the caretaker where her stone was, and he asked how I knew her because he was her son's best friend! Then I had to admit that I was just there because she was on the Titanic - which he had never known.

There's a whole series of Cemetary caches in Nashville called RIP... Most of the RIP caches (if not all) were hidden in cemetaries that were no longer used, but put in a pile of rocks, under bushes, in trees, etc... I'm not sure there were any that you had to touch a stone to get to. The closest we got was one where there was a pile of stone/brick behind this one headstone (looked like it was abandoned as opposed to being placed intentionally) that had the micro in there. It was about a foot behind the stone.

I personally feel like caching is the LEAST offensive thing that can be done by humans on a gravesite......winos that hang out in graveyards, kids that go there to "get wild" and party, etc etc etc ......

I work in downtown Pittsburgh and the whole downtown area is built on an area once inhabited by Native Amercians.....it is very likely that dead folks from LOOOOONG ago are buried somewhere under the streets etc but no one seems to be too worried about those folks.....

I agree with the first point. I went to the cemetary one day to see my friend who hadn't been buried all that long - there was still a mound of dirt - and these two women had walked down there with their children and the one woman was letting her son HOP UP AND DOWN on top of the mound of dirt. I was so shocked that I couldn't move, which is probably a good thing, because had I been able to I would have handed her the child and told her off. When she realized I was standing there staring at them in horror she finally said something to him. The worst part - they weren't visiting a grave anymore, they were standing there chatting about something that most people discuss at home over coffee. It would have been a little different if the GRASS had grown back in.

As for Pittsburgh, the sad thing is there are alot of places like that... The Great Serpent Mound in Ohio was totally torn apart so they could take artifacts and skeletons from it. I think that before an archaelologist can do something like that they should have their favorite dead relative's grave opened, excavated, then turned into something. Like, pour a cement foundation and place a park bench there or something.

2.5k · August 6, 2004

Way back when...before municipalities ever thought about providing 'green space', cemetaries often served some of the same functions as parks do today. People would gather and have picnics and otherwise recreate on what was, at the time, some of the only available land that was common and kept up.

I know of a family that still owns the land their family cemetary was put on, although there's no longer a homestead there. Every year, the family gets together at the cemetary for the family reunion.

August 6, 2004

Around here (Ohio), most cemeteries are owned by either the local government such as a village, city, or township, and thusly public property, or by a religious organization. There are some private for-profit cemeteries too. The cemeteries on public property are fair game, but I feel it should be done as tastefully as possible, and visitors should behave respectfully. Just counted the caches I've done that were in cemeteries ....59.

Cemetary Caches

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Join the conversation