Star Tribune Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:20:11 GMT
City parks, city streets ... city cemetery?
Care of older, small graveyards falling to often reluctant cities. More cities are taking over cemeteries as caretakers dwindle. Dozens of graves dating to the 1800s are now lined up next to soccer fields in a Minnetonka park. Tucked under a grove of tall cedar trees, they are the final resting place of some of the area's early Czech settlers. Today, suburban development surrounds the site, and cemetery board members who once tended the graves are gone. Now, care of the little cemetery has fallen to the city. Shady Oak Lake Cemetery is just one of thousands of small cemeteries in Minnesota, and one of many private cemeteries that are winding up in public hands when there is no one left to watch over them. The duty might seem an unlikely one for a city. But Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and Apple Valley are examples of cities that have adopted cemeteries at the urging of private associations that could not maintain them anymore.
[[keywords: LandUse;Living;Metro;]]
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