Greensprings Natural Cemetery Association

P.O. Box 415 / 293 Irish Hill Road

Newfield, NY 14867 / 607 564 7577

         Rules and Regulations for Greensprings at Irish Hill

March 2010

Note that: “Greensprings,” “We,” “Our,” and “Us” refer to Greensprings Natural Cemetery Association, Inc. “You” or “Your” refers to lot owners and their heirs and assignees. (“You” or “Your” may also refer to visitors where specified.) “Visitors” refers to anyone (including lot owners, heirs, and assignees) who visits Greensprings as part of a funeral party, or simply to walk around and enjoy the property. A “lot” is a burial area intended for the burial of one person.

1. All lots in Greensprings are sold in accordance with the provisions of the laws of the State of New York and shall not be used for any other purposes than as a burial place for deceased human beings.

2. In order to schedule a burial with us, you must purchase a lot for the deceased unless the deceased has already purchased one. You must also provide us with:

1.The name of deceased
2.Age of deceased including birth date, if known
3.Place of birth of deceased, if known
4.Date of death
5.Time and date of interment
6.If the deceased is not an adult, the names of his or her parent(s) or legal guardian(s)

Please read our “Guide for Burial Parties” in advance of burial.

3. You may choose burial in a standard burial area (plantings of Finger Lakes native herbaceous annuals or perennials only), sequential burial area (native trees and shrubs permitted), or cremains area. See our “Memorial Planting Guide” for more information.

4. Only one person, whether as a body or as cremated remains, may be buried in each lot—with one exception: if you wish to bury cremated remains in the same grave as a full-body burial, you must also buy a site in our cremains area but leave it unused. Burial of cremated remains in our Jewish burial area is not permitted, as it is contrary to Jewish law. Cremated remains may also be scattered in the areas reserved for them. Please ask us for details.

5. If you purchase two or more lots, we encourage you to designate family members or friends as owners of each lot.

6. You may transfer your lot to another person—but see (5) and (6). If you purchase a lot for yourself but, upon death, are buried elsewhere, then your lot passes to those named in your will. If none are named, it passes to your descendants, then to your surviving spouse. (If you inherit burial rights, you must let us know. Concerning permission to bury those not specified with Greensprings Natural Cemetery Association, refer to Section 1512 of the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law).

7. You are prohibited from allowing someone to inter a body on your lot in exchange for money, goods, or services.

8. If you decide you want to sell your lot, we will buy it back at the price you paid plus 4% simple interest, as required by law—but our payment to you will not exceed the current price of a lot.

9. You must pay the full purchase price with cash or personal check before a deed will be given or burial allowed on a lot.

10. We reserve the right to remove all flowers, wreaths, or other natural decorations without notice as soon as they become unsightly. Ceramic or glass vases or blocks (as receptacles for flowers), flags, artificial flowers, and other decorations may not be placed on graves or lots.

11. You may not place embellishments or effigies (for example, statuettes) on gravesites. We reserve the right to remove any embellishment on the lot, or effigy or inscription with 30 days notice by certified mail.

12. Our Board of Trustees shall have sole discretion as to all matters regarding landscaping and plantings, including landscaping plan and care, pruning, revegetation of graves, and removal of vegetation. Please read our “Commemorative Planting Guide” for information on memorial plantings. We strongly encourage you to fill out, detach, and return the memorandum attached to the Guide, letting us know what plant choices you have made. No unauthorized plantings or hedges, fences or enclosures of any kind are permitted on or around lots (except where agreed upon to conform to religious practice). We may remove or alter unauthorized plantings or enclosures with 30 days notice by certified mail.

13. Funerals must be completed at Greensprings by 4 p.m. so that we have sufficient time to properly close the grave and remove the equipment before 6 p.m. Funeral parties may help close the grave if they wish.

14. All funerals, processions and vehicles will be under the control of Greensprings staff while at Greensprings. Discharging firearms is permitted at military funerals and prohibited at all other times.

15. No cut, machined, or polished markers or monuments of any kind are permitted. You may have engraved natural, flat rocks indigenous to or quarried in the Finger Lakes area, set flush with the ground and encompassing no more than 400 square inches, placed as markers over the grave.

16. Our workers and contractors may enter or cross over any cemetery lot at Greensprings to perform normal cemetery operations.

17. Trails and lanes (and the visitors and staff who walk on them, or the equipment driven on them) may traverse a corner of your lot, though no trail or lane will traverse the site of your actual burial. (See also 14.)

18. All work done at Greensprings, including but not limited to landscaping and care of lots, shall be done by Greensprings employees or under the control and with the permission of our superintendent or Board of Trustees.

19. Visitors may visit Greensprings during daylight hours, observing our rules and the propriety due to us. Your pets must be on a leash and under your control at all times. Motorcycles and other loud vehicles, except for trucks and equipment necessary for our operation, must park outside cemetery property.

20. Disinterments will be allowed on regular business days between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., provided they are in compliance with all the provisions of Section 1510(e) of the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law.

21. We are open for burial seven days a week unless severe weather conditions preclude burial on any given day. We are closed on New Years Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. If you need to arrange a burial on a holiday, you must get in touch with us by 9 a.m. and we will let you know by 10:30 a.m. if we are able to accommodate you.

22. If burial takes place when deep snow is on the ground, we suggest families trade the lot for one in our winter burial area. Otherwise we must charge you the extra cost of accessing the lot.

23. Concrete or steel vaults and grave liners will not be permitted at Greensprings.

24. Bodies or cremains may be interred only in natural biodegradable materials such as, but not limited to, wood or a shroud. Ask us or your funeral director for guidance. Metal, concrete, plastic, or other synthetic materials and stone may not be used for interment at Greensprings.

25. Deceased bodies that are embalmed or otherwise chemically preserved may not be interred at Greensprings except under special circumstances (such as the legal requirements of the state of origin or if the embalming was done accidentally before Greensprings’ requirements were known), and unless our executive director or burial coordinator approves. If neither is available, a board officer may approve.

26. Each lot in the cemetery will be suitably marked by the Corporation.

27. Graves may take several years to settle back to the original ground level. Note that sometimes graves settle unevenly, even from one day to the next. If you visit a grave and find uneven settling, please be assured that our caretaker will attend to it soon.

28. The Greensprings Natural Cemetery Association, Inc. and its trustees, officers, employees and agents assume no liability for damage, mental anguish, or loss caused by vandalism or other acts beyond its reasonable control.

29. These rules and regulations may be amended by our Trustees, but the amendments will not be effective until approved by the New York State Cemetery Board.