Rules & Regulations

Definitions:

1.     Association refers to Prospect Hill Cemetery Association.

2.     Cemetery refers to Prospect Hill Cemetery on Capner Street in Flemington Borough and Raritan Township in Hunterdon County, New jersey.

3.     General maintenance refers to the Cemetery in its entirety and shall consist of caring for its roads, paths, buildings, fences, trees and signs but does not include any special care of individual plots, grass, monuments or memorials.

4.     Memorial Park shall mean such portion of the cemetery designated on the records of the Association where graves may be marked only with flush ground memorials according to the specifications of the Association. 

5.     Monument Section shall mean such portion of the cemetery which is designated on the records of the Association where memorial monuments may be erected according to the specifications of the Association.

6.     Annual care shall mean with regard to a specified interment space, the mowing of grass, pruning of plants, removal of debris, but shall not include reseeding or resodding unless otherwise specified. Such care shall be charged for on an annual basis fee to the plot owner.

7.     Perpetual care shall be interchangeable with “annual care”, except the charge therefore shall be provided for by a deposit of funds made with the Association to be held in trust in the Perpetual Care Fund of the Association and no part of the principle of such deposit may be expended. Annual or perpetual care shall not be construed to include gravestone or memorial structures care, repair or maintenance.

Ownership of space:

8.     Conveyance of Interment space in the cemetery refers only to the right of interment.

9.     All interments in the cemetery shall be held subject to the New Jersey Cemetery Act, Association rules and regulations and Association deed of interment space.

10.  No person will be recognized as an owner of any Interment space unless his or her name is validly recorded in the records of the Association. The Association may recognize the interest of a successor in title when the surviving claimant may establish by affidavit or other acceptable form his or her right of ownership.

11.  No transfer of interment space or interest therein shall be valid until the Association shall have approved the instrument of transfer. The Association may refuse to authorize such transfer as long as indebtedness remains due on said plot for its purchase price or its subsequent care.

Interments: 

12.  No Interment or disinterment will be permitted or no monument memorial may be placed on any plot, lot or burial space against which charges due to the Association remain unpaid.

13.  The remains of no more than one person may be interred in any one grave space, except in the case of cremation remains; then, there shall be permitted no more than three.

14.  The Association or its employees shall not be held responsible for any error resulting from an order for interment unless such order shall be in writing giving precise instructions as to the location, space and size with accompanying map.

15.  All funerals, upon reaching the cemetery, shall be under the supervision of the Association, unless a funeral is accompanied by a duly licensed funereal director.

16.  The date and time of internment or disinterment should be set solely by the Association.

17.  The size of burial container to be used shall be subject to the approval of the Association. Because caskets and boxes deteriorate causing hazard and unsightliness, all caskets must be enclosed in a concrete or stone vault or sectional concrete liners.

18.  No disinterment will be permitted except with the consent of the persons required by the New Jersey Cemetery Act. All such consensus must be satisfactory in form to the Association.

Outside contractors:

19.  All persons wishing to do any work in the cemetery including but not limited to erecting vaults, monuments, grave markers or cutting any inscriptions must be first present to the cemetery office a written authorization signed by the owner of the plot, lot or grave. Any proposed work must be under the supervision of the Association Superintendent or other authorized person. A reasonable charge may be made for such supervision. The Association does not assume responsibility to anyone for character or quality of work of such outside contractor.

20.  Foundations will be constructed in April and October.

21.  Foundation work will be done by the Association. The Mason contractor shall submit a written order containing the following information:

• a.     Type of work to be done

• b.     Width, thickness and height of base

• c.     Width, thickness and height of die

• d.     Name and address of contractor

General:

22.  No memorial above the level of the ground shall be permitted in the Memorial Park section of the cemetery.

23.  No monument, memorial, trees or shrubs may be added or removed from any plot or grave space without first obtaining approval of the Associations superintendent or representative.

24.  In section of cemetery known as Upper Drive West Monument Section, the erection of headstones or monuments shall be permitted on plot thereon provided such headstones or monuments shall NOT exceed 4 feet from ground level of the monument or headstone to its uppermost part.

25.  All interments shall be burial; there shall be no above ground vaults or crypts unless approved by the Association upon special request. 

26.  The Association reserves the right to compel those coming into the cemetery to obey all rules and regulations or or hereafter adopted by it.

27.  Persons within the cemetery grounds shall use only walks, streets and paths and the Association shall not be liable for injuries sustained by or caused by any person violating this rule.

28.  Glass containers/glass decorations of any kind are prohibited.

29.  In the event any flowers, plants, trees or shrubs situated on any interment space are unsightly or become detrimental to adjacent spaces, paths or walks or become hazardous to visitors, or if for any reason removal is deemed necessary, the Association may give the owner of the interment space written notice to affect correction or removal of the objectionable condition within fifteen (15) days’ notice. If at the expiration of said 15 day period the condition has not been rectified, the Association may, at its discretion, enter said interment space and caused the condition to be corrected and charge the expense to the owner of said interment space.

30.  The Association reserves the exclusive right to do all grading, landscaping, excavating, installing of foundations, walks, curbs, installing of memorials, setting of vaults, making of internments, disinterment and removals including all opening, filling and closing of Interment space with its equipment.

31.  No advertising signs will be allowed in any form on any work in the cemetery.

32.  Monuments will be erected so as to remain consistent with existing lineage. Monuments will not be erected in a fashion which interferes with adjacent memorials.

33.  The Association reserves the right at any time or at times with or without notice to anyone to revise, amend or supplement these rules and regulations.

34.  Special cases may arise in which literal enforcement of a rule or regulation may impose unnecessary hardship. The Association therefore reserves the right to make exceptions to the rules and regulations and such exceptions shall in no way be construed as affecting the general application of such rules and regulations.

35.  Memorials of the 24-inch “slant” variety will be the sole type of monument utilized in section “L”. These will be erected per grave.