Editing Cemetery (section)

===Family===
[[File:Cemetry of Kottakkavu Mar Thoma Syro-Malabar Pilgrim Church founded by St. Thomas.jpg|thumb|Family cemeteries in India]]
While uncommon today, family (or private) cemeteries were a matter of practicality during the settlement of America. If a municipal or religious cemetery had not been established, settlers would seek out a small plot of land, often in wooded areas bordering their fields, to begin a family plot. Sometimes, several families would arrange to bury their dead together. While some of these sites later grew into true cemeteries, many were forgotten after a family moved away or died out.

Today, it is not unheard of to discover groupings of tombstones, ranging from a few to a dozen or more, on undeveloped land. As late 20th-century suburban sprawl pressured the pace of development in formerly rural areas, it became increasingly common for larger exurban properties to be encumbered by "religious easements", which are legal requirements for the property owner to permit periodic maintenance of small burial plots located on the property but technically not owned with it. Often, cemeteries are relocated to accommodate building. However, if the cemetery is not relocated, descendants of people buried there may visit the cemetery.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2295&context=lawreview|first=Alfred|last=Brophy|title=Grave Matters: The Ancient Rights of the Graveyard|journal=BYU Law Review|date=2006|volume=2006|issue=6|at=Article 2|access-date=December 21, 2016|archive-date=November 9, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109123947/http://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2295&context=lawreview|url-status=live}} The "ancient right" of the graveyard is that descendants of those buried on private property have&nbsp;– in many states&nbsp;– an implied easement "in gross" to visit that cemetery. The boundaries of this right, in terms of how frequently descendants (and in a few states other interested people) may visit and for how long, vary by state. In a few southern states, this is provided by legislation; in more states, it is protected by common law decisions. In some states, the right is not yet established by either statute or cases, although it seems likely that in an appropriate challenge most, maybe all, states will recognize at least limited rights of access. See Brophy, ''supra''.</ref>

There is also the practice of families with large estates choosing to create private cemeteries in the form of burial sites, [[monument]]s, [[crypt]]s, or [[mausoleum]]s on their property; the mausoleum at [[Fallingwater]] is an example of this practice. Burial of a body at a site may protect the location from redevelopment, with such estates often being placed in the care of a [[trust law|trust]] or [[foundation (charity)|foundation]]. In the United States, state regulations have made it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to start private cemeteries; many require a plan to care for the site in perpetuity. Private cemeteries are nearly always forbidden on incorporated residential zones.
Many people will bury a beloved pet on the family property.