Town of Orange
Cemetery Rules and Regulations
As approved at the Annual Town Meeting, Article 43, May 7, 2007
For the mutual protection of lot owners and the Cemetery as a
whole, the following rules and regulations have been adopted by
the Orange Cemetery Commissioners, and approved by Town Meeting
vote, pursuant to the Acts of 1890, Chapter 264 and M.G.L. c.
114, section 23 as the rules and regulations for all the Town
of Orange cemeteries.
All persons entering the cemetery, including lot owners, and
all property of the cemetery, including lots sold, shall be subject
to these Rules and Regulations and further to such other Rules
and Regulations, amendments and/or alterations adopted, pursuant
to state and local law, from time to time. Reference to these
Rules and Regulations in the Deed to a lot shall have the same
force and effect as if set forth fully therein.
1. DEFINITIONS
a. Cemetery – A burial park for earth interments, a community
mausoleum for vault or crypt interments, or a columbarium for
cremated remains, or a combination of one or more of these herein.
b. Deed – The original conveyance given by the Town of Orange
to the original purchaser.
c. Grave – A place for burial that is 12 ft. long by 36
inches wide.
d. Interment – The permanent disposition of the remains
of a deceased person by cremation or traditional burial.
e. Lot – Numbered division as shown on the record plot,
which consist of one or more graves.
f. Lot Marker – Any means used by the Cemetery Department
to locate corners of the lot or grave.
g. Management/Superintendent – The person duly appointed
by the Elected Board of Cemetery Commissioners for the purpose
of ensuring the proper maintenance of the cemeteries and the enforcement
of the Rules and Regulations.
h. Marker – Small, flush, stone items used to identify the
interred or the corners of a lot, usually placed at the foot of
a grave. Also refers to those items given to US Veterans to identify
interred.
i. Monument – A large memorial, placed at the head of a
lot centered upon deeded graves. Some regulations may apply to
size and location of monument. Written permission from the Superintendent
is required prior to installing an oversized monument. Schedule
of allowed monument sizes, voted August 21, 2002, is available
from the Superintendent.
j. Vault – A reinforced concrete grave liner box. No vault
over 34 inches in exterior width will be accepted for a single
grave. If a lot owner needs to use a vault larger than 34 inches
in exterior width, two graves will be required for the interment.
2. GENERAL RULES
a. Employees of the Cemetery Department are not permitted to
do any work for the lot owners except upon order of the Cemetery
Superintendent, and are required to be courteous to all visitors.
b. All fees or charges for services are payable to the Town of
Orange. Cemetery employees are not to be offered tips or gratuities.
c. Persons within the cemetery may use only the avenues, roads,
walks and alleys, and no one is permitted to walk upon or across
lots or lawns unless it is necessary to do so to gain access to
one’s own lot. The Cemetery expressly disclaims liability
for any injuries sustained by anyone violating this rule.
d. Whoever uses as a means of passage from one point to another,
not being thereupon at the time for any other purpose, the premises
of the Cemetery, in any other parts than the avenues, roads walks
and alleys, shall be fined not more than twenty dollars ($20.00),
pursuant to M.G.L. c. 114, sec. 42.
e. Picking flowers, wild or cultivated, breaking or injuring any
tree, shrub or plant, or from writing upon, defacing or injuring
any memorials, fence, or other structures within the Cemetery
grounds by any person is prohibited. Violation of this rule is
also a violation of state laws (M.G.L. c 272, sects. 73, 74, 75)
under which violators may be subject to criminal prosecution resulting
in fines and/or imprisonment.
f. Motor vehicles must be kept under complete control at all times.
When meeting a funeral procession, they must stop until the procession
passes. They must not pass a funeral procession going in the same
direction. Motor vehicles must not be left with the engine running
and the emergency brakes must be set when the driver is not in
his/her seat. Mufflers must not be opened, nor the horn sounded
within the Cemetery.
g. The following is prohibited:
(i) Driving more than 10 mph within the grounds of the cemetery.
(ii) Driving any wheeled vehicle, motorized or otherwise, or riding
any animal across or upon any grave, lot or lawn, or parking or
leaving the same thereon.
(iii) Parking or leaving any motor vehicle on any road or driveway
within the Cemetery at such location or in such position as to
prevent any other vehicle from passing. The management will have
any vehicle violating this rule towed at the owner’s expense.
h. Children under sixteen (16) years of age are not permitted
within the Cemetery, or its buildings, unless accompanied by a
responsible adult or have been given approval from the superintendent.
i. In order to maintain the solemnity of the Cemetery, the following
activities are prohibited.
(i) Loud or boisterous talking
(ii) Loitering on the grounds, or in any of the buildings.
(iii) Peddling or soliciting
(iv) Placing of signs, notices or advertisements of any kind.
(v) Bringing dogs, other than service dogs, into the Cemetery
is strictly prohibited.
(vi) Bringing firearms into the Cemetery except by a military
escort accompanying a veteran’s funeral or attending memorial
services.
j. Special cases may arise in which the literal enforcement of
a rule may impose unnecessary hardship. The Management, therefore,
reserves the right to make exceptions, suspensions or modifications
of any of these Rules and Regulations, without notice, when in
the judgment of the Management such action appears necessary.
Such temporary exception, suspension or modification shall in
no way be construed as affecting the general application of such
Rules and Regulations.
k. The Cemetery Commission reserves the right to add to, amend,
alter or repeal these Rules and Regulations pursuant to M.G.L.
c. 114, sec. 23.
3. LOTS AND LOT OWNERS
a. Persons desiring to purchase a grave, lot or lots should contact
the Cemetery Department where the Management will aid them in
making a selection, and will issue a memorandum describing the
lot purchased.
b. Before any stone, marker or shrubs are placed or planted on
a grave or lot, complete payment for the grave must be made to
the Town of Orange Cemetery Department for the lot, unless waived
by the Commission. Plots will be sold for cash at the time of
signing the purchase agreements. Plots may be purchased under
a deferred payment contract on which 30 percent of the purchase
price must be paid upon signing the contract and 10 percent of
the purchase price is to be paid upon the first business day of
each month thereafter until the balance of the purchase price
is paid in full. If a plot is purchased under a deferred payment
contract, and the purchaser fails to complete payment of the full
purchase price within twelve months from the date of the deferred
contract, the said contract shall be null and void at the end
of the 12 month period and the commissioners will retain all monies
paid under said contract as liquidated damages or otherwise. The
Cemetery Commissioners will issue, when the lot is paid in full,
a deed/certificate of Ownership for burial purposes.
c. No lot or grave shall be used for any purpose other than for
burial of the human dead.
d. No easement or right of interment is granted to any grave owner
in any road, drive, alley or walk within the Cemetery, but such
road, drive alley or walk may be used as a means of access to
the Cemetery or buildings, as long as the Management devotes it
to that purpose.
e. The Management reserves the right to:
(i) enlarge, reduce, re-plot, or change the boundaries or grading
of the Cemetery, or a section or sections, from time-to-time,
including the right to modify or change the locations or remove
or re-grade roads, drives or walks, or any part thereof.
(ii) lay, maintain, and operate or alter or change pipelines or
gutters for sprinkler systems, water systems, drainage, etc.
(iii) use Cemetery property not sold to individual grave owners
for Cemetery purposes, including interment of the deceased, or
for anything necessary, incidental or convenient thereto.
f. The Cemetery Management and Commission reserves to it and to
those lawfully entitled thereto, a perpetual right of ingress
and egress over graves for the purpose of passing to and from
other graves or lots.
g. Descriptions of lots will be in accordance with the Cemetery
plats, which are kept on file in the Orange Town Hall and at the
Cemetery Office.
h. Management will take all reasonable precautions to protect
lot owners, and the property rights of grave owners, within the
Cemetery from loss or damage except for loss or damage from causes
beyond its reasonable control such as damage caused by the elements,
an act of God, thieves, vandals, explosions, unavoidable accidents,
riots or order of any military or civil authority, whether the
damage be direct or collateral, other than herein provided.
i. It is the duty of the grave owner to notify the Management
of any change in mailing address.
j. The instrument of conveyance, these Rules and Regulations,
and any amendments thereto, constitute the sole agreement between
the Cemetery Commission and the grave owner. The statement of
any employee or agent, unless confirmed in writing by the Cemetery
Commissioners, shall in no way bind the Cemetery Commission, Management
or the Town of Orange.
4. CARE OF LOTS
a. The general care of the Cemetery is assumed by the Management
and includes the cutting of the grass at reasonable intervals
and the raking and cleaning of the grounds.
b. This general care shall in no case mean the maintenance, repair
or replacement of any memorial, tomb, or mausoleum placed or erected
upon lots, nor the doing of any special or unusual work in the
Cemetery except as authorized by the Cemetery Commission. Additionally
excluded is the reconstruction of any marble or granite work on
any section or grave or any portion or portions thereof in the
Cemetery, caused by the elements, an act of God, thieves, vandals,
explosions, unavoidable accidents, or by the order of any military
or civil authority, whether the damage be direct or collateral,
other than herein provided.
c. Funds for this general care shall be provided by town appropriations
pursuant to M.G.L. c. 114, sec. 16.
d. Pursuant to M.G. L. c. 114, sec. 25, the Town of Orange may
receive gifts or bequests for maintenance of the Cemetery. These
funds shall be paid to the Town Treasurer, kept separate from
other town funds and accounts, and invested in accordance with
any stipulations from the grantor, if any. Proceeds of lot sales
or rights of burial shall be paid into the town treasury and appropriated
to reimburse the town for the cost of land, its care, improvement,
and embellishment, or the enlargement of the cemetery.
e. Pursuant to M.G.L. c 114, sec. 19, the Town of Orange may receive,
hold and apply any funds, money or securities deposited with the
Town Treasurer for the preservation, care, improvement or embellishment
of the Cemetery or of lots in the Cemetery. The Town Treasurer
shall invest these monies to ensure a maximum income.
5. CORRECTION OF ERRORS
a. The Cemetery Management or Commissioners reserve, and shall
have, the right to correct any errors that may be made by it either
in making interments, disinterment or removals, or the description,
transfer or conveyance of any interment property, either by canceling
such conveyance and substituting any conveying in lieu thereof
other interment property of equal value and similar locations
as far as possible, or as may be selected by the Management, or,
in the sole discretion of the Management, by refunding the amount
of money paid on account of said purchase. In the event such error
shall involve the interment of the remains of any person in such
property, the Cemetery Management or Commissioners reserve, and
shall have the right to remove or transfer such remains so interred
to such other property, consistent with the law, of equal value
and similar location as may be substituted and conveyed in lieu
thereof.
6. DESCENT OF TITLE
a. The Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts govern descent
of title to Cemetery lots as well as other matters pertaining
to assignments, conveyances, devises, trust deeds and inalienability.
The Management will assist any lot owner who desires information
or advice on questions pertaining to his/her lot.
7. INTERMENTS
a. The Cemetery will be open for interments at regular rates
between 8 AM and 2 PM, Monday through Friday. Funerals that will
enter the Cemetery after 2 PM, Monday through Friday may be subject
to extra fees. Saturday funerals are subject to higher fees. No
burials to take place on Sundays, Memorial Day, Independence Day,
Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. When
Memorial Day or Independence Day falls on a Saturday or Monday,
and delay will cause unreasonable hardship or inconvenience, interments
may be made on such days, but an additional fee will be added
to the regular charge.
b. Where immediate burial is required by state law or under the
rules and regulations of the Orange Board of Health, interments
may be made on Sundays and holidays, but an additional fee will
be added to the regular interment charge and entrance to the Cemetery
will be allowed only to the hearse and vehicles in the funeral
procession.
c. All funerals upon entering the Cemetery shall be under the
charge of the Management.
d. Once a casket containing a body is within the confines of the
Cemetery, no funeral director, or their staff, shall be permitted
to open the casket or to touch the body without the consent of
the legal representative of the deceased or by court order.
e. Funeral directors, upon arrival at the Cemetery, must present
the burial permit issued by the Board of Health.
f. Lot owners shall not allow burials in their lots for remuneration
of any kind.
g. One traditional burial and up to three cremation burials or
four cremation burials with no traditional burial are the maximum
allowed in any single grave. No interment of two or more traditional
burials in one grave, except in the case of parent and child or
two infants buried in one casket.
h. When an interment is to be made in a lot, the lot owner shall
designate the location of such interment. Should the lot owner
fail or neglect to make such designation, the Cemetery Management
or Commissioners reserve the right to make the interment in a
location designated by the Management.
i. The Management and the employees of the Cemetery are the only
persons who will be permitted to open graves with the following
exceptions.
• When the Cemetery is directed to make a disinterment by
judicial order and a certified copy of such order has been filed
with the Management, or
• When the Medical Examiner directs the disinterment for
the purpose of holding an inquest and has filed with the Management
a legal, signed authorization to release the body to the Medical
Examiner or lawful agent. In such cases, the Medical Examiner
or lawful agent does the disinterment. Cemetery employees will
not be permitted to assist.
j. In order to maintain a high standard of care and to eliminate
sunken graves caused by the collapse of wooden boxes, it is required
that all traditional burials must be made inside a vault. The
“outside” width of such vaults shall not exceed 34
inches. In such cases where an oversize vault is needed to accommodate
an oversized casket, the lot owner will need to use two deeded
graves. Burial vaults may be procured from any source provided
they meet the established specifications. When cemetery employees
handle or install such containers, a reasonable charge will be
made for such service.
k. All charges for interment or services in connection therewith,
shall be paid to the Management before or at the time of the burial.
l. Arrangements for the payment of indebtedness due the Cemetery
must be made before interment is made.
m. The Cemetery Management or Commissioners reserve the right
to insist upon at least thirty-six (36) hours notice prior to
any interment and at least one weeks notice prior to any disinterment
or removal.
n. All interments, disinterment, and removals must be made at
the time, in the manner, and upon the charges fixed by the Management.
o. Besides being subject to these Rules and Regulations, all interments,
disinterment and removals are made subject to local and state
laws, by-laws, ordinances or regulations.
p. The Cemetery Management or Commissioners will not be responsible
for any order given by telephone or for any mistake occurring
from the want of precise and proper instructions as to the particular
space, size of grave and location of a grave where interment is
desired.
q. The Cemetery Management or Commissioners will not be liable
for the interment permit nor for the identity of the person sought
to be interred.
8. PLANTS AND SHRUBS
a. Monument gardens are permissible as long as they are planted
within the following guidelines:
1. Gardens shall not extend further than twelve (12) inches from
the base of the monument.
2. No plantings or decorations at foot markers with the exception
of a veteran’s flag. Plantings and decorations may only
be placed at the main lot monument.
3. Vines or creeping perennial flowers (i.e.: phlox), rose bushes
are not permissible.
4. Bark mulch and stones are not permitted in gardens.
5. Gardens may be edged with natural products only. (i.e.: bricks,
rocks, pavers) No plastic edging, plastic fencing or metal wire
fencing may be used. The cemetery department will remove them.
6. No baskets or containers shall be wired down
b. No shrubs shall be planted without written consent of the management.
Shrubs shall not exceed fifteen (15) inches in diameter and shall
not grow higher than the monument (maximum height three (3) feet)
It is the lot owners’ responsibility to maintain their shrubs
within these specifications. Any shrub planted without consent,
or overgrown will be removed at the cemetery departments’
convenience.
c. The Management shall not be responsible for any kind of plantings
or lot decorations damaged by the elements, vandals, thieves or
other causes beyond its control. The Management shall have the
further authority to remove all floral designs, flowers, weeds,
trees, shrubs, plants, herbage or decorations of any kind from
the cemetery as soon as, in the judgment of the Management, they
become unsightly, dangerous, detrimental or diseased, or do not
conform to the standard maintained.
d. The Cemetery Department shall not be liable for floral pieces,
baskets or frames in which, or to which, such floral pieces are
attached, nor for such floral pieces for Memorial services held
in the Cemetery.
e. All decorations must be removed in the Spring by April 15th
and in the fall by October 1st for a period of two weeks for maintenance.
Decorations may be replaced after this two week period.
f. Cemeteries are closed between sunset and sunrise
g. Artificial Flowers may be used to decorate lots between December
1st and July 15th.
h. Family members and caretakers may place artificial floral arrangements
on the graves of their loved ones if they are within 12 inches
from the base of the monument, weighted down and firmly secured
to prevent blowing off the grave by the wind, from May 1st thru
October 1st in the cemeteries in the Town of Orange.
ENFORCEMENT OF RULES
The Management is hereby empowered to enforce all Rules and Regulation,
and to exclude from the Cemetery any person violating the same.
The Management shall have charge of the grounds and buildings
including the conduct of funerals, traffic, employees, grave owners,
and visitors, and at all times, shall have supervision and control
of the Cemetery and may remove any person violating any of these
Rules.
