Island Struggles With Lack of Burial Space

Burial space has already run out on Nantucket Island, but Massachusetts law requires burial spaces for anyone dying within town limits. Now officials are scrambling to find a place for their dead to go.

1 minute read

March 15, 2008, 7:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg

"The last person to be buried on Nantucket in a town-owned grave was in 2003 in a discreet plot in the back of the Old North Cemetery."

"The New Town Cemetery next to the high school, meanwhile, last accepted a burial in 1999. It has an unknown number of spaces left, and because some graves are not marked with a headstone, no one is sure where someone's final resting place may be - Nantucket's lone undertaker is not going to take a chance digging a new grave and discovering an old one."

"There are still plenty of plots available in the privately owned cemeteries - Prospect Hill and St. Mary's - but under Massachusetts's general law, the town is required to 'provide one or more suitable places for the interment of persons dying within its limits.'"

FULL STORY: SCARCE LAND SCARES CEMETERY PLANNERS

Friday, March 14, 2008 in The Nantucket Independent

Land Use Massachusetts Cemeteries Nantucket Burial Space

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