Cemetery Etiquette

The wife and I used to visit grave yards in what ever area we were vacationing. Never stepped on a grave. In fact we fixed them up whenever we could.

I cry and ask God to bless them. If they are military, I ask God to thank them for me.
The person is important. The dead body and the grave are emblems of the person for those living today. The dead really aren't concerned.
IMHE

I found this to be an unusual thread. I have 4 grave sites I visit every year. In total, there are 22 people interred there, from my parents, grandparents and all the way back to great great grandparents. When I pray I always stand on their graves to be close to them.

I'm not a runner, but I would think that running between the headstones would be a hazard. Thus, if I did run I would use the road.

I always try to be respectful when visiting a graveyard. It is difficult to walk to a grave without stepping on any other graves on the way.

This thread reminded me of something a person at a church we went to for a brief period of time. The church which was Methodist until recently has been in that location since before the Civil War. There are graves there from the 1850's I believe. One of the members there spoke of the wooden coffins collapsing. He spoke of being in the graveyard maintaining things. While he was there a fellow from a nearby house started riding that direction on a horse. The church member called out to the rider trying to get him to go around the graveyard out of concern for his safety. The man rode the horse right through the middle of the graveyard & continued on. The graveyard is fenced now. This tradition may have begun as much as a safety concern.

I was taught to walk between the Graves if you have to cross, never walk over them. As for the workers, they are preforming a service to those Graves, thus the term caretaker of the cemetery.

Living in New England I have found many small old cemeteries.
Some I found pretty much in the woods they were real old.
The oldest grave was a guy know as Ellifat Senter in Lynboro New Hampshire!
I stop in to visit from time to time. Have not been there in at least years.
Only reason is I live in Maine now someday I'll make my way down to see him
Some think its weird But I like old cemetaries. The headstones are interesting!
New Hampshire has bunches of old Cemetaries! some on private lands others
in the woods all grouwn in! Happy hunting ps

I would most likely walk around to avoid tripping. I don't personally feel it is a disrespect to walk on or over a grave/headstone, at least not any more than the riding mower that drove over them the day before. I'm sure the deceased don't care. However, and I don't feel this is hypocritical, I would avoid doing so with other people around because I'm sure there are those that would be offended if they were to see it.

I have noticed this while placing wreaths during my Wife's DAR group' Wreaths Across America Day. We pre-mark the graves that will receive a wreath but folks just wander willy-nilly around the cemetery while placing them.

1. try to avoid graves wherever possible.
2. I remove any hat I am wearing.
3. Talk softly. (unconsciously many times, such as at The Sunken Road of Antietam!)

Today the low brow society we tolerate use cemetery as a freaking DOG PARK among all the other trash that comes with. They don't even have the sense of the village idiot 50 years ago. But what can you expect, they call their selves "doggy daddy" and doggy mommy. I guess it is better if most people today NEVER procreate.

I have to admit I had more respect when I was a kid. I worked for a landscaper for a year that took care of one and we would spend hours driving a mower all over. You had to be careful because time was money, and you had to get it done in a timely manor. Mowing over an old {sunken} grave that was followed by a recent one {mound} had you catching air with the mower. I always thought all of the wear and tear was weathering on the stones. Nope, its the landscape crew. Can't tell you haw many markers we had to pick up after clipping them with the mower. When you "scalped" a granite or marble marker it did a job on the mower blades. I always felt bad about the veterans markers because they were made of brass and took a beating.
Please remember none of this was intentional. I just am not as reverent as I used to be having worked in a cemetery. They are very quiet and peaceful places and when you spend eight hours a day in one, it gives you a lot of time to reflect.