Hallowed Ground - A Brief on Access and Maintenance Rights to Grave Sites on Private Land

Across North Carolina, one often sees gravestones standing alone or in small clusters in various states of maintenance among the rows of tended farm fields and mowed pastures. Sometimes these are enclosed, sometimes not. Many of these family burial sites serve as final resting places for ancestors who once owned and worked the land, but who rest now on land that is no longer owned by their descendants. There are likely many other abandoned known and unknown resting places, many perhaps overgrown with standing timber. This publication provides an overview on the basics of North Carolina policy concerning burials, grave sites and cemeteries on private land. This paper should inform private landowners and developers of private land on the legal issues involved regarding grave access and appropriate action upon discovery of abandoned grave sites.