Ferncliff Cemetery – Rules and Regulations
Purpose
Experience has proven the adoption and enforcement of rules to be necessary to secure the proper mode of burial, to protect the interests of lot-owners, and to preserve the beauty of the Cemetery.
All persons are therefore urgently and respectfully solicited to conform to these rules and regulations, and to assist the management in their enforcement.
Hours
The Cemetery grounds are open from 7:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. daily. Office hours: Monday through Friday from 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., Saturdays 8:00 A.M. to Noon, closed Sundays and Holidays.
General Care of Lots and Improvements
To assure a good effect in the cemetery, it is essential that every portion of it should be well cared for, as partial neglect would mar the beauty of the entire surroundings; therefore the care of all lots is assumed by the Trustees. The avenues and walks will be kept in good condition, trees and shrubs will be trimmed or pruned, the turf will be kept mowed and cleaned without expense to the lot-owner, and no person other than the employees will be permitted to perform any work on any lot unless by permit from the Superintendent.
No trees, plants, or shrubs shall be planted on lots or graves, nor shall any tree or shrub be trimmed or removed except by employees of the Association, under the direction of the Superintendent.
No person will be allowed to pluck any flower, either wild or cultivated, or to disturb anything within the grounds.
No person with dogs will be admitted.
Refreshments shall not be brought into the cemetery, and children under twelve years of age will not be admitted unless accompanied by adults.
Persons are requested not to throw papers, bouquets, or other refuse upon the lawns or drives. Baskets are placed at convenient places to receive such articles.
Vases on lots are unsightly unless frequently painted, well planted and properly cared for. The Association will paint and water vases at a nominal charge per season and it is recommended that the painting and watering of all vases be placed in the Association’s care.
Broken or unpainted vases, or vases not planted by July 1st will be removed from lots and stored for two years, after which time, if not called for by the owner, they will be disposed of by the Association.
Stone bases under the vases shall not exceed the sod line.
No monument, marker, vase, plants or other articles shall be removed from lots unless permit signed by the lot-owner is first left with the Superintendent or Clerk.
No grave shall be planted with ivy, myrtle, or other covering except sod; and all graves shall be sodded level with the surrounding grade.
All orders for work of any kind on lots shall be given to the Clerk or Superintendent at the office of the Association and shall be paid for at time of ordering.
Lots are conveyed by deed, for purposes of sepulture only, and are not transferable. This does not forbid, however, lot-owners burying persons other than members of their family on their lots, except that same cannot be done for renumeration. (See By-Laws, Article 14.):
14. No lot-owner shall sell or convey his lot or any part thereof, heretofore or which may hereafter be conveyed, to any person other than this Association, who may by a vote of two-thirds of the Trustees, refund the original purchase price, or a part thereof, without interest, to any lot-owner, who may for good cause wish to dispose of a lot or part of lot, which is not used for sepulture, and accept a reconveyance thereof to this Association, who may resell the same, subject to the same restrictions.
Lots will be marked with corner posts, numbered to correspond with the deed record and plat, and set level with the sod. No coping, fencing, hedging or other boundry markings will be permitted.
Persons desiring to purchase a lot should go to the cemetery office, where the Superintendent or his assistant will show them the lots for sale.
Payments for lots are made at the office of the Association.
It is advisable that lots should be paid for in full at time of purchase. However, part payment will be received and time extended on unpaid amount to meet the needs of the purchaser, not to exceed two years, for which a contract shall be given. If terms are desired, same may be arranged at the office of the Association.
No deed not certificate of ownership will be issued, and no monument, marker, or other memorial shall be erected, not shall more than one burial be permitted within the lot until the purchase price of the lot has been fully paid.
Sub-division of lots by the owner will not be allowed, except by permission of the officers of the Association, and joint purchase of lots is not recommended.
Arrangements for an interment should be made at least twenty-four hours in advance of the time set for the funeral service, and the hour of the funeral must be so arranged that the grave may be properly filled and all surplus ground cleared away before the hour for quitting work.
An additional charge will be made for funerals arriving in the cemetery after 4:00 P.M.
Every interment shall be made in an approved outer container, either metal or reinforced concrete. The cemetery can furnish, at a small cost, a reinforced concrete vault and its use will insure against sunken graves and the untimely breaking down of the casket.
No interment will be permitted on any Sunday or on any Holiday, except the interment of remains requiring immediate burial under Rules and Regulations of the Board of Health. The following days are Holidays: Afternoon Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, afternoon New Years Eve, New Years Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day and Thanksgiving Day.
For all interments, directions should be given and the charges prepaid at the office of the Association.
The person giving the order for the interment will fill out a blank, furnished by the Association, giving such information as is required for the record; and if the burial is to be made in a lot, the order shall be signed by the lot-owner or by some person duly authorized to sign such order.
The Assocation will not be responsible for any mistake which might occur if arrangements for the interment are made by telephoning.
Before an interment is made, an order from the City Board of Health must be handed to the Superintendent of his assistant.
The burial of the remains of more than one person in a grave will not be permitted.
It is required that all monumental work be designed and executed in such manner as to insure the most permanent construction.
To this end all memorials, mausoleums, monuments, benches, or other memorial structures must be constructed of granite from recognized quarries, or of standard cast bronze of approved composition, all of which are guaranteed by responsible producers.
The design, size, and material for all memorials must be approved by the officers of the cemetery, and all orders for foundations must be presented on a regular form provided by the cemetery, and shall be signed by both the lot-owner and the dealer furnishing the memorial.
On all new sections, no rough finish will be permitted above the lower base, but same shall be polished, fine axed, honed, or other similar finish.
The width of any monument shall be confined to forty per cent of the width of the lot upon which it is placed and shall not be set closer than thirty inches to any line of the lot. A ten and one-half foot wide lot and also an eleven foot wide monument lot may have a four and one-half foot wide monument.
Producers of monument materials, meaning thereby quarries, quarries who also manufacture memorials, and other manufacturers and dealers must, in order to secure the approval of the cemetery, file with the cemetery an agreement to sell only first-grade clear stone for memorial purposes, and must guarantee that such stone is free from sap or anything that will cause stain; that it will not crack or check, and that should any defects develop within ten years from the date of setting, the memorial will be replaced without cost to the cemetery or purchaser, and that such adjustment will be made without any delay. Any producer or retail dealer who violates this regulation shall be removed from the list of approved producers and retail dealers.
On lots of fractions thereof which contain not more than one hundred fifty square feet, no stone work will be permitted except a marker of regulation size at each grave, and no vase or ornamental planting will be permitted.
All monuments and markers shall be set upon concrete foundations built by employees of the cemetery.
Monument foundations will be finished at least two inches below the level of the sod at lowest point, and no sub-base will be permitted except by permission of the Superintendent.
All bases must be bedded evenly so as to set level upon the concrete foundation, as no spawls or wedging will be permitted.
All markers shall be set by employees of the cemetery; they shall not be less than six inches or more than eight inches in thickness. On all new sections the marker will be six inches thick and will be set flush with the ground. No marker shall exceed in size thirty inches by fifteen inches, although a marker of regulation size may bear two or more inscriptions.
The Superintendent is instructed to prevent heavy hauling or setting of monuments whenever ground is soft, as injury to roads or lawn might result.
During freezing weather, concrete foundations cannot be safely built. Therefore, from the 1st week in November to April 1st, no concrete work will be done, and no deliveries will be accepted.
Persons engaged in erecting monuments or other structures must provide planking to prevent injury to the sod, and are prohibited from attaching ropes to trees, except under the direction of the Superintendent.
The erection of mausoleums will be permitted only in such parts of the cemetery as the Trustees may approve or select as mausoleum sites.
These sites will be so disturbed as to prevent a mausoleum from being placed in close proximity to any other structure, or to interfere with view of other lots.
For the accommodations of persons who do not wish to purchase family lots, certain sections of the cemetery have been sub-divided into single grave spaces. In these sections there can be no choice of location, as the spaces are uniform and sold in regular order as needed for immediate use.
Monuments, vases, and wooden or removable metal markers are prohibited on these sections.
Upon the removal of remains from one of these single grave spaces to a family lot, the grave space is surrendered to the Association for the price originally paid for same, and regular charge for disinterment and reinterment will be made, the price of the single space to be applied to the expense of removal.
Should a single grave space be vacated and the remains be removed from the cemetery, the space shall be surrendered to the Association, and the usual charge for disinterment shall be made.
No disinterments or removals shall be made on Sundays or holidays.
When remains are to be disinterred and removed from the cemetery, a permit must be presented from the Board of Health in accordance with the Statutes of Ohio governing the disinterment and removal of dead bodies.
In all cases of the removal of a body, written consent of the lot-owner from whose lot the body is to be removed, must first be obtained; also written application by the next of kin of the deceased. If the body is to be removed from a single grave space, the consent of the person who paid for the interment, or some other duly authorized person, must first be obtained.