An inquiry to my local Senator, Bruce Tarr, about existing laws protecting gravestones following a discovery of one for sale on an online auction, started the process of turning a not so often thought about problem into a law. Whenever I tell someone about Bill S.1629, the response I get is “I’ve never even thought about that. Who would sell a gravestone!?” It happens more frequently than you think, and it is my mission to return as many gravestones found in auctions, oddities markets, and other surprising locations back to where they belong.
Massachusetts Bill S. 1629 aims to close a loophole in existing laws that fall short of protecting gravestones of suspicious origin from being bought and sold. In a digital economy, ship-anywhere world, this could mean artifacts from historic burying grounds ending up anywhere.
There is a vandalism law and there is a law against selling memorial markers belonging to veterans, firefighters, and police officers. However, there is no law to prevent old gravestones, often suspiciously obtained, from entering the marketplace. Many of these markers have changed hands several times before coming to my attention and most need research to establish their provenance and to determine the legality of their removal.
Over the years, I have helped solve many cases related to gravestones found in unusual places: behind bookshelves, in attics and basements, once in front of a Family Dollar, and even in a clam flat. It is surprising where gravestones turn up: Auctions, oddities markets, flea markets, and antiques stores. This law will help prevent gravestones from being sold and assist in returning those taken illegally to their burying places.
So far, Massachusetts Bill S.1629 has been voted favorably out of the Joint Committee for Public Health and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. It currently has eight cosponsors.
The wording of this bill is based on pre-existing laws in Maine and New Hampshire.
“Bill S.1629
An Act relative to the theft of graves.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Notwithstanding any special or general law to the contrary, no person shall possess or sell, offer for sale or attempt to sell, or transfer or dispose of any monument, gravestone, marker, or other structure, or any portion or fragment thereof, placed or designed for a memorial of the dead, or any fence, railing, gate, plot delineator, or curb, knowing or having reasonable cause to know that it has been unlawfully removed from a cemetery or burial ground.”
You can support Bill S.1629 by contacting Senators and Representatives on the Senate Committee on Ways and Means as well as your own Senators and Representatives to let them know you want to save gravestones and other objects illegally removed from burying places.
The Senate Committee on Ways and Means
https://malegislature.gov/Committees/Detail/S30/194
For more articles on Bill S.1629 and its history please visit these links
https://youtu.be/K5P75rAZYII?si=8D9XIgCW8Uv4Zg0D
This bill has brought the issue to the attention of people in our field, many of whom have begun reporting lost gravestones and helping one another return them. At the time of writing this post, I am part of two groups that are actively saving gravestones across the country, and I am deeply grateful for them.
To report a found gravestone, email us at epochpreservation@gmail.com.
Epoch Preservation, Inc. 