General Rules & Regulations

Section I. Definitions

Alcohol: Any substance containing ethanol, a type of alcohol produced by fermentation of grains, fruits or other sources of sugar that acts as a drug.
Artificial Light: Light made in imitation of or as a substitute for something natural, simulated.
Cremated Remains: The term cremated remains refers to the remains of a deceased person after incineration in a crematory.
Cremation Vault/Urn: A container used to hold the cremated remains of a body.
Deed/Certificate of Ownership: The terms Deed/Certificate of Ownership shall apply to a contract between the Town and the holder of the deed or certificate of burial rights. The deed/certificate grants ownership within the specified lot(s). The deed/certificate is contingent upon the adherence to the current and periodically updated and revised rules and regulations of the cemetery.
Flag Holder/Metal Monument Marker: The term flag holder/metal monument marker shall refer to the metal, stick-type, upright, above ground (except for the part that is placed in the ground) flag holder/monument marker, generally, but not always used to mark veterans’ graves.
Grave: The term grave shall apply to a space of sufficient size to accommodate one adult full casket interment, measuring 4’ x 12’.
Interment: The term interment shall mean the permanent earth or entombment disposition of human remains by placement in a casket or by cremation and inurnment, and then by cemetery approved burial in the ground or entombment.
Inurnment: The term inurnment refers to the earth burial or entombment in a columbarium of an urn containing cremated remains.
Lot: The term lot shall apply to a numbered division measuring 4’ x 12’ as shown on the record, located in the Morristown Land Records.
Lot Marker or Corner Marker: The term lot marker or corner marker shall refer to any means, granite or metal, used by the cemetery to locate or mark the corners of a lot or group of lots.
Marker: The term marker shall refer to a monument, which is flush with the ground.
Monument: The term monument shall refer to a tombstone or monument, which extends above the surface of the ground.
Town of Morristown Cemeteries: Hereinafter referred to as Morristown Cemeteries, shall apply to the group which administers, supervises and has jurisdiction over eight Morristown cemeteries: Lakeview, Laporte, Mountain View, Plains, Randolph, Riverside, Wheeler and Pleasant View.
Perpetual Care: The term perpetual care shall apply only to the cutting of the cemetery lawns and to the maintaining of access to and within the cemetery.
Sexton: An individual in charge of the sale, management of cemetery lots and cemetery grounds under the supervision of the Town of Morristown.

Section II. General Rules and Regulations

Conduct of Persons within Morristown Cemeteries: All persons in the cemeteries are to be constantly mindful that they are in a cemetery and that they are to always display proper decorum. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that there should be strict observance of the proprieties of a cemetery. Hence, all persons within the cemetery should avoid conduct, whether embraced in the Rules and Regulations or not, unbecoming a sacred place. The following must be observed:
1. All persons visiting the cemetery or attending funerals are prohibited from: gathering or picking flowers, wild or cultivated, whether in- ground or potted; breaking or cutting or injuring in any manner any tree, shrub or other plant, wild or cultivated, whether in-ground or cultivated; or otherwise disturbing the birds or animal life. It is prohibited to deface, mar, destroy, or injure in any way, any plant, lawn, fence, animal, structure or monument in any Morristown cemetery.
2. Prior to interment or inurnment, no casket or urn shall be left unattended once brought into a Town of Morristown cemetery.
Vehicles and animals in Association cemeteries:
1. Driving any motorcar or other vehicle through the cemetery gates or within the cemetery at excessive speeds is prohibited. No vehicle shall be driven at a speed in excess of 5 miles per hour.
2. It is prohibited to drive or park any motorcar, vehicle or animal across or upon any grave, lot or lawn except by permission of the Association.
3. No snow machines or ATV’s or similar vehicles or devices are permitted in the cemetery.
4. Dogs or other companion animals are not allowed in any Morristown cemetery unless leashed. Owners are to clean up after their dogs or other companion animals. All loose dogs are subject to removal and impoundment by the Morristown Animal Control Officer.
5. Adults and children on bicycles accompanied by an adult are permitted on the roads in the cemeteries.
Littering of any type in any Morristown cemetery is prohibited.
Cemetery Dates, Hours, and Fees. In general, the cemetery grounds shall be open from 7 A.M. to sunset. Dates and hours that the Morristown cemeteries are open to funerals, visitors, and/or monument work shall be set by the cemetery Sexton. Morristown Cemeteries shall set all fees. Such dates, hours and fees, etc. shall be listed in the Morristown Town Clerk’s Office and on the Town of Morristown website and shall be available to all interested parties. The Town and Sexton will have the final authority in deciding the opening and closing of the cemetery for burials.
The deed/certificate of ownership shall be the sole and separate property of the person or persons named as grantee(s) in the instrument of conveyance.
No artificial light or lighting other than solar lights of any kind shall be permitted in any Morristown cemetery except within cemetery buildings or on vehicles entering the cemetery for official cemetery business.
Post-service/committal receptions are prohibited. A brief time of visiting following a cemetery committal is allowed but should not interfere with necessary operations to complete the burial. There shall be no presence of alcohol or food anywhere on cemetery property at any time.

Section III. Burial Rights

Burial rights refer to the right to interment/inurnment in a particular or specified lot.
All interments, disinterments and removals must be made at the time, in the manner and subject to such charges as fixed by the Town Cemeteries and meet all relevant laws of the State of Vermont.
Town Cemeteries reserves the right to refuse interment/inurnment in any plot, and to refuse to open any burial space for any purpose, except on written application by the plot owners of record, their heirs or assigns, or legal authorities.
When instructions regarding the location of an interment space in a lot cannot be obtained, or are indefinite, or when, for any reason, the interment space cannot be opened where specified, the Sexton may, in consultation with immediate next of kin, open it in such location providing there is a place to bury in the lot so as not to delay the funeral. Morristown Cemeteries shall not be liable for damages for any error made.
Morristown Cemeteries shall not be liable for the interment/inurnment permit nor for the identity of the person sought to be interred.
Only one full casketed body may be placed in one grave. In a grave containing one casket, or anticipating one casket, there may also be placed one or two urns containing cremated remains. If no casket is present, or will be present, up to four urns containing cremated remains may be placed. There may be only one regulation family monument, and additional interments must be identified by matching pre-existing markers or flat markers set in such a way as not to interfere with the general maintenance of the cemetery.
No interment of any body, or the cremated remains of any body other than that of a human being, shall be permitted in the cemetery. Cremated remains of small pets in proper containers may be interred within a casket or co-mingled in a human urn.
In all conveyances to two or more persons as joint tenants, each tenant shall have vested right of interment of his or her remains in the plot so conveyed. Upon the death of a joint tenant, the title of the burial plot heretofore held in joint tenancy immediately vests in the survivor or survivors, subject to the vested right of interment right of interment for the remains of the deceased joint tenant owner.
A vested right of interment as in this rule provided may be waived and shall be terminated upon the interment elsewhere of the remains of a person entitled thereto.

Section IV. Procedures and Forms

Full payment is required at the time that any contract is made between a party and the Town of Morristown. All arrangements for interments, monument, corner post and foundation work shall be managed and scheduled by the Sexton.
Lots for sale are assigned in numerical sequence. No deeds for lots will be issued out of sequence unless a situation arises in which, in the opinion of the Sexton, it would be in the best interest of the Town Cemeteries to issue such a deed out of sequence. Such an exception will in no way be construed as affecting the general strict application of this rule.
No transfer of assignment of any plot, or interest therein, shall be valid without the consent in writing of Morristown Cemeteries first to be had and endorsed upon such transfer or assignment, and thereafter being recorded on the books of Morristown Cemeteries and the Town Clerk.
At the time of the purchase of the plot, the purchaser will sign a document attesting that he/she/they is/are aware of the location of the involved lot(s) and is/are agreeing to abide by the present and any future updated or revised Rules and Regulations of the Morristown Cemeteries.
Burial Transit Permits will be used as required by law. Cremation Certificates must be presented with cremated remains. The Burial Transit Permit or Cremation Certificate along with Interment Order and appropriate fees will be given to the Sexton and filed with the Town Clerk.
It is the duty of the holder of the deed of the plot to notify, in writing, the office of the Morristown Town Clerk of any change in the legal post office address. Notice sent to the deed holder at the last address on file in the Town Clerk’s office will be considered sufficient and proper legal notification.

Section V. Cemetery Lots

Perpetual care refers solely to the cutting of the cemetery lawns and the maintaining of access to the cemetery. The grass on all lots will be cut regularly to provide a neat and pleasing appearance. Morristown Cemeteries will maintain, as may be practical, the cemetery vegetation and to preserve and maintain landscape features. Morristown Cemeteries is obligated to maintain the cemetery only as outlined in perpetual care as noted above.
The general care assumed by the Morristown Cemeteries shall in no case mean the responsibility, maintenance, repair, replacement, of any monument, foundation, or corner marker placed or erected on any lot. By purchase of a plot, the owner agrees that all monuments, gravestones, markers, plaques, and monument structures of any kind shall be set and maintained at the owner’s risk and that Morristown Cemeteries, the town of Morristown and its cemetery employees shall be held harmless from any liability due to any damage, destruction or injury caused by the elements, acts of God, pollution, common enemy, thieves, vandals, strikers, malicious mischief makers, explosions, unavoidable accidents, outside workers, invasions, insurrections, riots, or by the order of the military or civil authority, whether the damage may be direct or collateral.
Morristown Cemeteries shall have the authority to remove all floral designs, flowers, weeds, trees, shrubs, plants or herbage of any kind from the cemetery, as soon as in the judgment of the Sexton they become unsightly, dangerous, detrimental, or diseased or when they do not conform to the regulations outlined. Morristown Cemeteries shall not be liable for floral pieces, baskets or frames in which or to which such floral pieces are attached, beyond the acceptance of such floral pieces for funeral services held in the cemetery. Morristown Cemeteries shall not be liable for lost, misplaced or broken flower vases. Morristown Cemeteries shall not be responsible for frozen plants, or herbage of any kind, and for plantings damaged by the elements, thieves, vandals, or by other causes beyond its control.
Plastic flowers and other items are permitted. Any allowed plantings or decorations shall be planted or placed within one foot of the family monument. Floral decorations must be placed immediately adjacent to any grass marker. Permanent structures (boxes, chairs, etc.) are not permitted. It is the responsibility of the owner to remove any and all items placed in the summer by November 15^th. After this date, the Sexton or their designee may remove these objects and discard.
Coat hangers and other wires in the ground or attached to monuments as plant holders are not allowed.
Any flower urns or baskets left on graves for more than five days, following a burial, may be removed if they become unsightly at the Sexton's discretion.
As a special mark of respect to those who have served our country, the American flag shall be displayed only on the graves of those persons who have honorably served in the armed forces of the United States of America.
The right to enlarge, reduce, replant or change the boundaries or grading of the cemetery or of a section or sections, from time to time, including the right to modify or change the locations of or remove or regrade roads, drives or walks, or any part thereof, is hereby expressly reserved. The right to lay, maintain and operate or alter or change pipelines or gutters for sprinkling systems, drainage, lakes, etc. is also expressly reserved, as well as is the right to use the cemetery property, not sold to individual plot owners, for cemetery purposes including the interring and preparing for interment of dead human bodies, or of anything necessary, incidental or convenient thereto. Town Cemeteries reserves to itself and to those lawfully entitled thereto, a perpetual right of ingress and egress over lots for the purpose of passage to and from other lots.
Effective April 19, 2011, there shall be no planting of trees, shrubs, bushes or other large or spreading plants. Lot owners will be advised of violations and asked to remove the plantings. Morristown Cemeteries reserves the right to remove any plantings in violation at the owners’ expense.

Section VI. Receiving Vault Use

The receiving vault is for temporary use only and under no circumstances will a body or remains be considered as interred or buried by reason of being placed therein. No unembalmed bodies are allowed to be placed in the Town Receiving Vault.
All caskets and urns entering the receiving vault will be tagged with the name of the deceased and the funeral director’s name with address and phone number.
Full payment of vault fees is required at the time the body or remains are placed in the receiving vault.
Morristown Cemeteries reserves the right to demand removal from their vault, as necessary, any remains not in a good state of preservation or when the condition of the remains renders its interment necessary after consultation with the Town Health Officer. Morristown Cemeteries will notify the responsible funeral director.
All human remains must be removed from the receiving vault no later than June 1^st.

Section VII. Interments, Disinterment and Removals

In the absence of any religious strictures, a written interment order is required at least 24 hours in advance and a written disinterment order or written removal order is required at least one week in advance. The interment order must be completed in full with requested information, exact location designated, signed by all required parties and all fees paid. Disinterments are subject to state law.
All interments, disinterments and removals are subject to the rules and regulations of Morristown Cemeteries, as well as subject to the orders and laws of the properly constituted authorities of the town, county and state.
Once a casket containing a body is within the confines of a Morristown cemetery, no funeral director, or his embalmer, assistant, employee or agent, shall be permitted to open the casket or touch the body without the consent of the legal representatives of the deceased, or without a court order.
All interments, disinterment and removals must follow Morristown Cemeteries Rules and Regulations.
Morristown Cemeteries reserves, and shall have the right to correct any errors that may be made by it, either in making interments, disinterments, or removals, or in the description, transfer or conveyance of any interment property, either by canceling such conveyance and substituting and conveying in lieu thereof other interment property of equal value and similar location as far as possible, as may be selected by the Sexton, or in the sole discretion of the Morristown Cemeteries by refunding the amount of money paid on account of such purchase. In the event such error shall involve the interment of the remains of any person in such property, Morristown Cemeteries reserves and shall have the right to remove or transfer such remains so interred to such other property of equal value and similar location as may be substituted and conveyed in lieu thereof.
Morristown Cemeteries shall in no way be liable for any delay in the interment of a body.
In each 4’ x 12’ lot may be buried one full burial casket OR one full burial casket and one or two cremation urns OR up to four cremation urns. All caskets must be interred in a burial vault of steel or concrete (or other materials) as approved by Morristown Cemeteries. All cremated remains must be in a container, either permanent or biodegradable.
Certain Morristown cemeteries shall make available cremation-only lots. These lots shall be (4’x4’) and may contain one or two cremains. Cremains must be interred in a permanent urn (ie marble, granite) or decomposable urn (ie wood, metal, cardboard). Markers may be only flat, ground-level markers no larger than 2 feet by 1 foot by 4 inches thick for each individual or 2 feet 6 inches by 1 foot by 4 inches thick for two individuals on one marker. The Association will provide numbered lot markers and individual corner stones will not be needed.
All funeral directors and their agents and anyone involved with an interment, disinterment, or removal shall be subject to the rules and regulations of Morristown Cemeteries and applicable state laws.

Section VIII. Foundations

Morristown Cemeteries require approved concrete foundations under all above ground monuments. Foundations must be in place and properly cured before the monuments to be set upon them are permitted into the cemetery grounds.
All foundations must have approved permit forms for foundations (Work Order) prior to the beginning of the work. All locations of foundations shall be approved and marked by the Sexton.
Excavation and building of the foundation must be carried out so that no part of the foundation will be smaller than the surface. The surface dimensions of any foundation will be no less than the dimensions of the base to be set upon it.
All foundations will be constructed with the use of a form or a frame and will be finished for at least two inches under the ground.
All foundations will be at least 4 feet deep, unless deeper at the Sexton's direction.

Section IX. Monuments and Markers

Acceptable materials for monuments and markers shall include granite, marble and rock (field stone). Decomposable or fragile materials including, but not limited to, wood and plastic, are not allowed. All foundations, monuments, markers or plaques are set and maintained in a safe condition at the owner’s or deed holder’s responsibility and risk.
Size limitations shall apply to monuments placed in all Town cemeteries. Monuments shall be no more than 32 inches wide on a single four-foot lot. Monuments representing multiple lots must provide an eight-inch space on each side of the monument to the edge of the lots.
Only one central above ground monument is permitted on any lot; except on any lot in an area designated for “cremation only” where all markers shall be ground level.
Markers shall be set flush with the ground, except where it is necessary to match those already set in a lot or section. Markers shall not have raised letters.
Corner markers and placement shall be required/included with the purchase of a lot. All markers will be set at the direction of the Sexton. Corner markers shall be of good natural stone placed flush with the grade. Initials shall be incised, not raised. Corner posts shall be at least 6 inches in the ground and dressed where they abut on two corners of adjacent lots in most instances. Corner markers must be placed inside the lot line.
No monument shall be set on any lot for which there has not been issued a deed, cornerstones have not been installed or any lot for which the burial rights have not been paid in full.
While Morristown Cemeteries will exercise all possible care to protect the monument or other structure on any lot and the raised lettering, carving or ornaments on such monument, or other structure, it disclaims responsibility for any damage or injury thereto.
No coping, curbing, fencing, hedging, grave mounds, borders or enclosures of any kind shall be allowed around any lot; and no walks or brick, cinder, tile, stone, marble, terra-cotta, sand, cement, gravel or wood shall be allowed on any lot which will interfere with the routine maintenance of the cemetery. Morristown Cemeteries reserves the right to remove the same if so erected, planted or placed.

Section X. Work and Labor in Town Cemeteries

All work and labor in Morristown Cemeteries are subject to the Rules and Regulations of the Morristown Cemeteries.
Landscape and beautification planning is the responsibility of the Morristown Cemeteries.
Outside Work and Labor:
1. All work persons, self-employed or employed by outside firms, while within a Morristown cemetery, are subject to the Rules and Regulations of Morristown Cemeteries. Persons cleaning their own family monuments need not file a work order.
2. Work and Labor provided by self-employed persons and by outside firms shall be approved, have the proper permits in order and be scheduled by the Sexton before such work and labor is commenced. The permit or copy thereof shall be on the work person and shall be produced if required by cemetery personnel. This includes letter cutters, persons employed by firms and self-employed who are engaged in the business of cleaning, repairing or restoring monuments, and all other persons of firms proposing to do work in any Town cemetery. To secure such a permit, it shall be necessary for the person or firm to submit satisfactory evidence of their ability to perform the work for which they have been engaged.
3. All outside workers must have Certificates of Insurance on file with the Town Clerk prior to submitting any work in any Morristown Cemetery.
4. Work persons engaged in placing or erecting monuments and other structures or bringing in materials or in doing any other work in any Morristown cemetery must have permission from the Sexton and filed required Cemetery permits prior to commencing any work.
5. Persons engaged in erecting monuments or other structures, or engaged in other cemetery work of any kind shall be held financially responsible for any damage done in the course of their work.
6. Plywood or planking is to be placed on the lots for the protection of the grass.
All empty excavations, i.e.,foundations and grave excavations, when left unattended, shall be marked and covered with plywood to prevent anyone or thing from falling in.

Section XI. Miscellaneous

Records: Rules & Regulations are available on-line at the Town of Morristown municipal website and at the Morristown Town Clerk’s office.

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