RULES & REGULATIONS
INTERMENTS AND DISINTERMENTS
1. An arrangement for burial or purchase of interment privileges, made by a plot holder through a funeral director or other agent shall be binding on said plot holder.
2. The Cemetery Trustees and/or the Superintendent shall not be responsible for any order given by telephone or any mistake occurring from the lack of proper instructions as to the size of the casket. or as to the particular grave location where interment is to be made. The Cemetery Association reserves the right to make an equitable charge whenever additional labor costs result from such mistakes.
3. The Cemetery Trustees and/or the Superintendent shall be in no way liable for any delay in the interment of a body where a protest to the interment has been made, or where the rules and regulations have not been complied with, or where said rules and regulations shall forbid such interment.
4. The deed for the plot in which the interment is taking place must be presented to the Cemetery Authorities.
5. The Cemetery Trustees shall not be liable for the burial permit or responsible for the accuracy of the data contained in said permit or for the identity of the person to be interred.
6. Permits for burial, cremation, or transit must be delivered to Cemetery Management prior to the time of interment.
7. All burials must be with a concrete box or vault. Cremated remains are not required to be in a concrete box or vault.
8. All funerals, on reaching the Cemetery shall be under the supervision of the Cemetery Management.
9. The Cemetery Trustees and/or the Superintendent shall exercise due caution in making a disinterment and removal, but they shall assume no liability for the damage to any casket or burial case incurred in making the disinterment.
10. All interments and disinterments subject to these rules and regulations shall also be subject to the orders and laws of the properly constituted authorities of city, county and state relating to the same.
11. No interment or disinterment shall be permitted on Sundays, or on any of the following holidays:
New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day. and Christmas Day and such other days as the Cemetery Trustees may from time to time designate.
The only deviation from this rule is by order of the Board of Health.
12. The right is reserved by the Association to insist upon at least two days’ notice before any interment. and at least one week's notice prior to any disinterment.
13. A written order from the funeral director, plot owner or legal representative giving the name, age, place of birth. marital status, place and cause of death, of every person to be interred, shall be filed at the Cemetery Office at the time of interment, together with the name, address, phone number and email address of the person now holding the deed to the plot.
14: No deed shall be issued, nor any memorial placed on any plot not fully paid for. No interments may be made in any plot for which payment for care is not up to date.
15. Sale or transfer of any plots by the plot holder is permitted. If a plot holder sells or transfers a plot the plot holder must notify the Superintendent of such sale or transfer. Until such notification is made the sale or transfer is not valid. A recording fee of $75.00 will be charged for each deed transfer. Lots will not be repurchased by Mendham Cemetery Association but will be placed on a list of available graves and this list will be made available to those seeking to purchase a grave. Should a grave on this list be sold the current plot holder will receive reimbursement not to exceed the original purchase price the plot holder paid.
16. No plot owner may permit burials in his plot for a renumeration.
17. No grave shall be dug except by employees of the cemetery.
18. The Cemetery Trustees and/or the Superintendent reserve the right to temporarily place earth on an adjoining plot when a grave is being opened, and to move and replace memorials as needed to access plots.
19. Not more than one body shall be interred in any grave, with the exception of Cremated Remains.
INSTRUCTIONS TO PLOT HOLDERS
1. No coping, curbing, fencing, hedging. borders, or enclosures of any kind shall be allowed around the plot. The Cemetery Trustees and/or the Superintendent reserve the right without prior notice to remove same if so erected, planted or placed.
2. If the deed of the lot or grave has been lost or mislaid an affidavit sworn before a Notary Public must be presented in which the person claiming rights to interment privileges in said plot must identify himself, establish his rights to said plot, and state that no other party has prior or equal rights to said plot
3. All grading, landscaping work and improvements of any kind, and all care of plots, shall be done by cemetery staff.
4. Children under fifteen years of age are not permitted within the cemetery unless accompanied by an adult 18 years of age or older.
5. Animals shall not be allowed in the cemetery or in any buildings of the cemetery. Leashed dogs are allowed, but owners must curb their dogs and remove any fecal waste from the cemetery property.
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SERVICE CHARGES AND PAYMENTS
The Cemetery Trustees shall have the right to fix a charge and time of payment for each interment, disinterment. plot transferred or returned and for the performance of any other service rendered by the cemetery. All work in connection with such service shall be subject to the determination and supervision of the Superintendent.
LOSS or DAMAGE
1. The Cemetery Trustees disclaim all responsibility for loss or damage from causes beyond their reasonable control, and especially from damage by an act of God, the elements, earthquakes, war, common enemy, air raids, invasions, insurrections, riots, order of any military or civil authority, thieves, vandals, strikers. Malicious mischief makers, explosions, unavoidable accidents, or any cause similar or dissimilar is beyond the control of the Cemetery Trustees whether the damage be direct or collateral. In the event it becomes necessary to reconstruct or repair any section or plot including graves or any portion or portions thereof in the cemetery, which have been damaged by such causes, the Cemetery Trustees shall give a 10-day written notice of the necessity for such repair to the plot holder of record. The notice shall be given by depositing the same in the United States mail with postage thereon duly prepaid, addressed to the plot holder of record at his or her address stated on the books of the Cemetery Authorities.
2. In the event the plot holders fail to repair the damage within a reasonable time the Cemetery Trustees may direct that the repairs be made and charge the expense against the plot and to the plot holder of record.
MONUMENTS AND MARKERS
1.The Cemetery Trustees and/or the Superintendent will prepare all foundations and fix charges for their lot.
2.The location and position in which a memorial is to be placed or erected on a plot shall be entirely subject to the approval and under the supervision of the Cemetery Trustees and/or the Superintendent.
3. Only one central or family monument shall be permitted on a plot. The length of the base shall not exceed sixty percent of the width of the plot.
4. Only granite may be used for any type of new memorial. Benches of granite are permitted; other stone - wood – metal monuments and markers are not permitted on plots.
5. Non-cemetery workers engaged in placing or erecting monuments or other structures are prohibited from scattering their material over adjoining plot, or from blocking roads, or walks, or from leaving their material on grounds longer than is absolutely necessary.
6. Mausoleums or tombs either wholly or partially above ground shall not be permitted.
7. Definitions:
A. Markers -A stone or plaque not larger than fourteen inches by twenty-six inches, to mark individual graves in a plot.
B. Monument - see item #3.
8. Monuments must be granite and have granite bases no higher than 8 inches and the total height of the monument and base shall not exceed 38 inches.
9. Markers must be flush with the ground. No markers can be larger than 14 inches by 26 inches.
10. Corner designations must be flush with the ground.
11. The proprietor of each lot shall erect and keep in repair, at his or her own expense, the landmarks of the same.
12. If any monument or effigy, or any structure whatever of any description be placed in or upon any lot, which shall be determined by the major part of the Trustees for the time being, to be offensive or improper, the said Trustees, or a major part of them shall have the right, and it shall be their duty, to enter upon such lot and remove the said offensive or improper object or objects.
RIGHT TO REPLAT
1. The following rights and privileges are hereby expressly reserved to the Cemetery Trustees to be exercised at any time or from time to time for the erection of buildings, or for any purpose or use connected with, incident to, or convenient for, the care of, preservation of, or preparation for the disposal or interment of, human dead bodies or other cemetery purpose:
a. To resurvey, enlarge. diminish, replat, alter, in shape or size, or otherwise to change all or any part or portion of the cemetery.
b. To layout, establish, close, eliminate, or otherwise modify or change, the location of roads, walks, or drives, provided ingress and egress to and from any plot is preserved or is allocated to the plot holder.
2. The following rights and privileges are hereby expressly reserved to the Cemetery Trustees to be exercised at any time or from time to time:
Easements and rights of way over and through all of said cemetery premises for the purpose of installing, maintaining and operating, pipelines, conduits or drains for sprinklers, drainage, electric or communication lines or for any other cemetery purpose.
FLORAL REGULATIONS
I. No vines, trees or ground covers of any kind shall be allowed on the plot. The Cemetery Trustees reserve the right without prior notice to remove same if so erected, planted or placed.
2. All flower beds shall be no more than 12 inches from the front of the monument. Cemetery Trustees shall not be liable for flowers not planted in flower beds.
3. No more than ten (10) funeral floral pieces may be placed and the Cemetery Trustees and/or the Superintendent shall have the authority to remove all funeral flowers and designs from the cemetery as soon as in the judgment of the caretaker, they become unsightly. Floral frames when removed from the plot, unless called for within five days by the person entitled to them may be disposed of by the Cemetery Trustees and/or the Superintendent in any manner they see fit.
4. Glass containers are prohibited in the cemetery at all times. The Cemetery Authorities reserve the right to remove same if so placed.
5. The right is reserved to regulate the method of decorations of plots so that uniform beauty may be maintained. The use of boxes, shells, toys, metal designs, ornaments, artificial decorations, vases, glass or crockery jars and containers, wood or metal cases, barriers, etc., shall not be permitted on any plot an such articles shall be removed by Cemetery Trustees and/or the Superintendent.
6. If any trees or shrubs, situated in any lot, shall. in the opinion of a Majority of the Trustees or the Superintendent become objectionable, impair the view of grave markers or headstones, or by means of their roots, branches, or otherwise, become detrimental to the adjacent lots, avenues, or grounds, or dangerous or inconvenient to visitors, it shall be the duty of the Trustees or the Superintendent, and they shall have a right to remove the said trees and shrubs, or such parts thereof as are detrimental, dangerous, inconvenient. or objectionable.
7. All persons are prohibited from picking any flowers, mutilating any tree or shrub, defacing or writing upon any monument, fence, or building or building pertaining to the Cemetery; and any person disturbing the quiet and good order becoming the place, or violating any of the foregoing rules, will be compelled instantly to leave the premises and thereafter excluded entrance therein.
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REGULATIONS APPLYING TO THE
CREMATION LOT SECTION
1. All existing regulations governing the cemetery and its access apply to cremation lots except as specifically addressed in this amendment.
2. Each cremation lot can hold the cremains of two persons.
3. The cremains must be interred in a vessel which will not deteriorate in a reasonable time. Bronze, Aluminum, Stainless Steel, Marble, Stone, Plastic are acceptable.
4. All memorial markers will be 12 x 24 inches as will be flat with the surface of the interment site. The markers can be either of granite or bronze. Before a marker is placed a fee will be paid to the cemetery for construction of a foundation to support the marker. The foundation will be placed once the second interment is made or if the family indicates that no additional interments will be made after the initial interment.
5. Floral pieces are allowed at the time of interment. Decorations of the cremation site are allowed but they are limited to cut floral bouquets without any containers.
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IN GENERAL
1. The statement of any employee of the cemetery shall not be binding upon the Cemetery Trustees except as such statement coincides with the document conveying the right of interment and these rules and regulations.
2. The Cemetery Trustees reserve the right to make temporary exceptions, suspensions, or modifications in any of these rules and regulations when in their judgement the same appear advisable; and such temporary exception. suspension, or modification shall in no way be considered as affecting the general application of such rule.
3. In all matters not specifically covered by these rules and regulations the Cemetery Trustees reserve the right to do anything which in their judgement is deemed reasonable under the circumstances and such decision shall be binding upon the plot holder and all parties concerned.
4. The Cemetery Trustees reserve the right at any time and from time to time to change, amend, alter, repeal, rescind. or add to these rules and regulations or any part thereof, or to adopt any new rule or regulation with respect to said cemetery or anything pertaining thereto.
5. New or changed rules will be posted in the Cemetery Office for a period of thirty days prior to their adoption and such notice shall be considered complete and sufficient announcement of the said change.
6. No hunting or passing through the Cemetery grounds for the purpose of hunting on neighboring grounds will be permitted.
7. Persons will be allowed within the Cemetery confines only during daylight hours.
8. The proprietors of lots, and their families shall be allowed access to the grounds at all reasonable times, observing the rules which are or may be adopted for the regulation of visitors.
9. The Trustees and/or the Superintendent will keep a registry of all sales and transfers of Burial Lots.
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Revised 9/2022