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What rights do abandoned graveyards have?

Asked by Berserker (33548points) August 12th, 2012

I was checking out abandoned graveyards online yesterday, and I started wondering just exactly who is responsible for them. My guess is they’re probably like abandoned buildings, and are subject to the laws of whatever state/province/city it finds itself in. Is that about right? I mean, you can’t just go in them and do whatever you want just because it’s abandoned, like most abandoned things.
But some I found are in places where nobody even lives anymore, miles and miles away from any real civilization, so if someone went in those and messed around, most likely nobody would ever even find out. Maybe out of the way graveyards are under the same protection that abandoned villages or towns have? Can’t find much information about this on the Internet, although I admit, I didn’t do much of a thorough search. All the sites showing them weren’t really concerned with that.
I mean some governmental duty must look out after stuff like that, it’s history. I’m also guessing it depends on where you live.

Then again maybe nobody protects these. Some I saw online are so old and in the middle of nowhere that only hikers seem to come upon them, and share their findings online through pictures. One even had a church. So for abandoned graveyards, either in populated areas or wilder places, what kind of laws protect these? Are there any specific laws, since they’re graveyards?
In addition, if an abandoned graveyard actually has absolutely no laws protecting it, can anyone actually make a claim to it, or to the land it’s on? (I doubt it, but thought I’d ask)

I also don’t plan to go ruin an abandoned graveyard.

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