Lot Information & Interment
What is available, what it includes, and what happens between the first phone call and the day of the burial.
First, the thing most people are never told
When you buy a grave in Ontario, you are not buying land. You are buying an interment right: the right to direct who is buried in that particular lot, and the right to have them stay there. The cemetery continues to own the ground.
This matters in practice. An interment right can be transferred to another person, and it forms part of your estate, but it cannot be resold on the open market like real estate. It also means the cemetery — not the family — remains responsible for the safety and upkeep of the grounds, which is the arrangement that keeps old burial grounds like this one standing.
Buying the interment right is also separate from paying to have the grave opened. Those are two different transactions, often years apart, and both appear on our price list.
The short version
Interment right = the right to be buried in a specific lot. Bought once.
Interment fee = opening and closing the grave. Paid at the time of burial.
Monument costs = the stone itself, its foundation and its installation. Usually arranged with a monument dealer.
What is available here
This is a small rural cemetery and the choices are correspondingly simple. Availability of each type varies as sections fill; please confirm with us before making firm plans.
| Lot type | Typical size | Burials permitted | Memorial permitted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult grave, single depth | Approx. 4 ft × 10 ft | One casket, plus cremated remains where space allows | Upright monument or flat marker |
| Adult grave, double depth | Approx. 4 ft × 10 ft | Two caskets, one above the other; the first is interred at extra depth | One shared upright monument or flat marker |
| Cremation grave | Smaller than 24 ft² | Cremated remains only; the number permitted is set out in the by-law | Flat marker |
| Child or infant grave | Reduced | One interment | Flat marker or small upright, by arrangement |
| Family plot | Multiple adjoining graves | As above, per grave | One family monument plus individual markers |
Confirm the details before you commit. Exact dimensions, the number of interments allowed in each lot type, and permitted marker sizes are set by the cemetery’s by-law, which is approved by the Bereavement Authority of Ontario and takes precedence over anything summarised on this page. Ask us for the current by-law — we will send it to you at no charge.
Buying in advance
You may buy interment rights at any time; you do not need to wait for a death. Buying in advance — pre-need, in the trade’s language — has two real advantages. You choose the location yourself rather than leaving it to relatives on the worst week of their lives, and you fix the price at today’s rates.
Money paid in advance for services and supplies not yet delivered is held in trust, as Ontario law requires. It is not spent by the cemetery until the service is actually provided.
If you would like to choose a lot, we will meet you at the cemetery and walk the ground with you. There is no charge and no obligation.
Arranging an interment
In most cases your funeral director will handle all of this. If you are arranging matters yourself, here is the sequence.
- Contact the cemetery. As early as you can. Burials are scheduled around the availability of the contractor who performs them, and a rural cemetery cannot always accommodate a next-day request.
- Confirm or purchase the interment right. If the family already holds rights, we will need to confirm who the current rights holder is, and that person’s written authorisation for the burial.
- Provide the paperwork. We require the burial permit issued under the Vital Statistics Act, normally supplied through the funeral home, together with the deceased’s full name and dates.
- Agree a date and time. Winter, weekend and statutory-holiday interments may carry a surcharge; see the price list.
- The grave is opened and closed. Under the cemetery’s direction, by the contracted operator.
- The register is updated. Permanently. The register is the cemetery’s most valuable possession and the reason anyone can find a grave here a century later.
What to have ready when you contact us
- Full name of the deceased, including maiden name where applicable
- Date of birth and date of death
- Name and contact details of the funeral home, if one is involved
- Whether the burial is of a casket or of cremated remains
- Any existing family lot: the name it is registered under, and the location if known
Winter burials
Eastern Ontario winters place a real limit on what a small cemetery can do. Frost depth, access for equipment, and the risk of damage to neighbouring graves all bear on whether a grave can be opened safely between roughly December and April.
The cemetery reserves the decision on whether ground conditions permit an interment. Where they do not, the usual arrangement is that the remains are held until conditions allow, and a committal is held in the spring. We will always tell you plainly what is possible.
Monuments and markers
Most families buy the monument itself from a monument dealer rather than from the cemetery. That is entirely normal, and we work with any reputable dealer. What the cemetery controls is what may be installed and how.
- Every monument or marker requires the cemetery’s written approval before installation.
- Upright monuments require a proper concrete foundation, poured or approved by the cemetery.
- Sizes, materials and placement must comply with the by-law for the section concerned.
- A Care & Maintenance contribution set by provincial regulation is payable before installation. The rates are published with the price list.
- Installation by a third party may be subject to an inspection or stake-out fee.
Full details, including decoration rules and seasonal clean-up dates, are on the Rules & Regulations page.
Common questions
Do I have to be Protestant to be buried here?
No. The name reflects the cemetery’s nineteenth-century origins, not a current requirement. We ask nothing about your beliefs, and families may hold whatever form of service they wish.
Can cremated remains be buried in an existing family grave?
Often yes, subject to the by-law and to written authorisation from the current interment rights holder. Contact us with the name the lot is registered under and we will check the register and tell you what is possible.
May we scatter ashes on a family grave?
Scattering is regulated in Ontario and is not permitted here simply by informal arrangement. Please ask us first. Interment of cremated remains in a lot is straightforward and is recorded permanently in the register, which scattering is not.
We think we hold rights here but cannot find the paperwork.
This is very common, particularly where rights were bought two or three generations ago. Write to us with the family surname and any approximate dates and we will search the register. There is no charge for a family enquiry.
Can interment rights be transferred or given back?
Rights may be transferred to another person; an administration fee applies and the transfer must be recorded by the cemetery. Ontario law also provides for the cancellation and repurchase of unused interment rights in defined circumstances. Contact us to discuss your situation.
Is a burial vault or grave liner required?
It is not required by law. Some families choose one to reduce settling of the ground over time. If the cemetery requires a liner in a particular section, that requirement will be set out in the by-law and stated to you before you commit.
This page describes general practice under Ontario’s Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, 2002 and Ontario Regulation 30/11. It is written to help you ask the right questions; it is not legal advice, and the cemetery’s approved by-law governs in the event of any difference.