The Terrifying Truth About the Abandoned Mausoleum
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 มิ.ย. 2023
- In 1926, the doors of a newly constructed gorgeous mausoleum opened for business.
The Mausoleum, was a three-story stone building design, with compartment style walls in which to safely hold bodies and caskets. Although official interment records for the mausoleum no longer exist, it is estimated that over 500 bodies were placed within the structure, which was to serve as their final resting place for generations to come.
When the original owner died in 1938, care of the mausoleum was inherited by his two daughters. Tragically, One died in 2000 and the other passed away just two years later, in 2002. Unfortunately and for some strange and unknown reason, no will or provisions had been made for future care of the mausoleum or the remains inside. In 2005, the mausoleum was finally condemned and closed by the city municipality for being “dangerous and unsafe.” The historic structure was then locked up, fenced off, and plastered with “no trespassing” signs.
Over the past 18 years, the elements of time have taken its toll on the abandoned building. The roof and walls are crumbling in. Rain and snow have entered just as easily as those who have ventured past the no trespassing signs and locks to squat, vandalize, and in some cases even steal from the dead. This has obviously caused outrage amongst the loved ones and people of the local community, but it seems that their calls for action have yielded few efforts. One thing remains very clear. Eventually the mausoleum will have to be demolished. Yet despite years of legal discussions and ideas, there is still no logical solution to dealing with the present tragedy and averting one even worse in the near future.
As of 2023, there seems to be some much needed positive news on the horizon for the once memorable and celebrated cemetery and mausoleum. Many local volunteers have gotten together and are now involved in cleaning up the cemetery, gravestones, and also help keeping an eye on the now vulnerable mausoleum to make sure it stays locked up and protected.
For more photos from the cemetery and mausoleum and our other locations, check out our website at abandonedcentral.com. And Please subscribe to Abandoned Central on TH-cam so that you don’t miss any of our upcoming videos. One more thing, if you would like to help support us in creating these videos, please donate by clicking the super thanks link next to the download icon. Even if it’s just one dollar, we greatly appreciate it. Thank you all for the continued support. - ภาพยนตร์และแอนิเมชัน
I honestly wouldn't mind if my grave ended up being overgrown and forgotten as long as it didn't get vandalized or the cemetery ended up being trashed. I know of a few located deep inside dense forests and they are some of the most serene, downright peaceful places to "rest in peace."
Agree!
Some "get moved". In my youth we knew someone whose business was that. Dead, we can be put in a container that sprouts a tree. Cremation turns everything into carbon. The funeral business is big and the concept of an afterlife fills the pews. Sanest method I know of is quick burial in a cotton sheet in a determined area with a small marker. Give the bodies a hundred years to compost and then turn it over for crops. It would be loamy earth not desert. Monuments and funerals are for the living.
well overgrown is certainly vandalism because it’s neglect…
Looks like tomb raiders in the mausoleum!
Why would a business pay for maintenance its just an expense! This is why graveyards should be run councils etc so this doesnt happen!
You would be dead anyway... you wouldn't care
The problem with being buried inside a building is that sooner or later the building will no longer be maintained and it will decay and collapse...
Yeah,.... like, REALLY. What were they even THINKING. I will be cremated. I can not even understand using land... PRECIOUS LAND for dead bodies. I wonder how many millions of miles of our Earth's epidermis is slated for dead body burial. UGH.
Sadly it all comes down to $$ always the $$ it's pathetic.
It also comes down to time as well. The surviving family may not have had a personal relationship with someone who died long ago, so it isn't a habit to go visit and maintain a grave for someone they don't really know.
Good point
Absolutely disgusting that people would let this happen. This shows zero respect for the dead or their living loved ones
This is disrespect towards the living, not the dead. It's the living who now have to clean this mess up and spend millions to do so. People should not be interred in mausoleums
@@agonzalez8924I agree
Sadly, this is more common than you'd like to believe. There are cemeteries like this all over the United States and Europe. Many cemeteries ran out of money when they ran out of room because they could no longer sell plots, which is why it's so important for them to invest their profits to ensure continued income for maintenance.
Puts a new meaning to creamation. With creamation , you have the ability to sprinkle the loved ones ashes in places they loved. This is awful to see loved ones left like this.
"Creamation," lol.
Shameful that cities do not take care of cemeteries when the owners of the cemeteries give up on them....I live where a city near by was sued by the families of buried loved ones for not maintaining the cemetery and for violating rules for the crematorium!! These families won and new owners of the cemetery are taking beautiful care of it now. Very sad and glad that there's hope for it!! xo
Maybe that's what families should do on this one and others. Where my mom and dad are they take good care of them. I guess I am lucky.
There should be money alloted to at least contain the problem from the outside and turn it into a memorial or something, even though it's not the cities responsibility. It's a tough case.
I am completely shocked that this is possible. In my country this would never happen. Even the cemeteries that are closed down are still being kept and taken care of by the cities they are in.
This was a privately owned mausoleum. The last owner died, and she didn't allocate money or another person after her to care for it. Not the cemeteries fault. Still a bummer, but not on those that don't own it, to spend their money to maintain it. Just bury me thank you lol
All cemeteries should be owned and cared for by the municipality, not private corporations.
I feel if that were the case the price of funerals would absolutely skyrocket
If State owned,
all funerals and pricing would be EXTREMELY high, non negotiable, and every facet of the requirements for mourners of the decedant would be nearly overbearing.
I have been in the funeral profession for many years.
Competition in private businesses keeps prices low due to competition.
Privately owned funerial businesses have a greater leeway in pricing and tailoring arrangements that are cost effective (for the aged or destitute) and the ability to taylor the service arrangements to be meaningful, personally fitting and "cost effective" for the survivors of the deceased.
Every funeral is different as are the people that die.
A highly regulated "state" funeral operation cannot adequately and effectively supply these varied concerns at reasonable costs.
this is an example of a city owned cemetery, since the sisters died without a will it went to the state and by default the city. Thats why they keep referencing the city not doing anything but minimum. Gov is never the solution as they have not provided solutions but more spending and regulations.
This is really sad. People expected that their loved ones remains would be safe in a lovely building forever and now it’s a hazardous wreck.
Btw, if you’re in a building during the day and don’t have a light on, people going by outside won’t be able to see you unless you stand right in front of a window.
How can this place be forgotten like this? This is really sad and this happens all around the world each and every day and it is never reported nobody does anything about it it's just sad. These are someone's loved ones😢😢😢
There are places like this all over the world. Perhaps not mausoleums. But graveyards for sure. I live in a rural area. And there are tiny graveyards all over the place with worn down tombstones with long forgotten people. Mostly from the 19th and 18th century. If they are taken care of at all it’s usually volunteers or Veterans groups who place flags on Civil and Revolutionary War vets graves.
As resident of a Nearby province, I can clarify that this is located near Roger Williams Park, In the State of Rhode Island. Been by it many times and it is indeed terribly dilapidated.
I think the very idea that anyone would maintain a cemetery in perpetuity is ridiculous.
I couldn't imagine how I'd react to someone plundering the grave of my family.
This place is so sad. I visited a few years ago and it’s just awful seeing how overgrown and forgotten everything is.
Whete is this
This is unbelievable. I can't believe no family members have complained about this
It's sad yoh paid so much for a coffin and it rust.
They are probably all dead unfortunately.
Well if like me, your the end of family line, then who gives a damn about you.? I wish I could find a forest to be buried in.
Since the cemetery is abandoned who do you complain to?. I would just take my family remains and move them to another cemetery.
@@Tazzman225 it's not that simple.
Breaks my heart to see this!!! This is why I REFUSE to be in a casket or buried! My last wishes are to be cremated so my family can take me wherever they go..
And you can go wherever they toss you. 🤗 I need to pick a spot.
Edit: Oops, I should have waited like two more minutes before posting this comment.
I've seen TH-camrs that clean up yards for free. It would be nice to see one of them come & clean up the cemetery. They could get several videos or of this and PROBABLY local and/or national recognition for doing so. This would be one of the most noble and honorable things one could do.
I'd do a lawn makeover if I had the equipment and if I lived closer to it!!
Actually there's a huge cemetery in England with beautiful big statues etc and it was left to ruin. Then a bunch of people got together started cleaning it up and tgen restorers volunteered and fixed tge stones etc and now it's beautiful. I can't remember the name of it. But there where a few progress videos on the progress of it. It's now amazingly beautiful
SideStep Adventures on TH-cam does exactly that. Finds old cemeteries and cleans them up.
Puts into perspective how pointless life really is...we all just get forgotten
It's better to have experienced this life than to never have existed at all.
They have lived life just like you should ❤
Life is never pointless, everyone and every creature matters. This life is just the beginning phase of our next Journey.
I feel sorry for you and you fatalistic outlook. So sad... If you feel that way, then maybe your life is pointless.
Unless you are famous few of us will be remembered beyond the lifetime of our children. The cemetery where my plot is has graves nearly 150 years old. Some of these people will only be remembered in someone's geneology, if the name on a page is even read. But we are all precious. Our lives do matter more then we can imagine. Keep living for each other.
This is just so sad how can the city just forget about this cemetery
I don't understand leaving a body in a place like this in the first place. I would choose to decay naturally and quicky, not be an sticky grotesque corpse for a 100 years.
This was extremely interesting guys, you took a lot of careful time with detail. Very well produced. One can tell by reading the comments how you stretched peoples thought envelopes. A thousand thumbs up ❤!
That quoted price of $6,000 to remove the remains of one deceased is outlandish it doesn't cost that much in supplies and equipment.
Holy cow that's insane and ridiculous.
Not including the cost of a re-interment site and possible grave opening with vault, it should be worth about $2,000 tops.
I found this to be quite a moving video to watch. It's appalling that peoples loved ones can be left like this and forgotten about.
So sad, how can someone do that to someone's resting place.
You are so respectful when you do these videos. This was very sad indeed.
*Rest in heaven all those people souls.🙏.*
I believe in the soul. 🤍
WTF! The city in which this cemetery is located should be ashamed. Disgraceful.
The city doesn’t own it
All is temporary and soon we are all forgotten including our Graves.
I couldn’t imagine family just walking in to take the body straight from the casket to have them cremated, leaving the casket on the ground! It’s so wrong on so many levels and hazardous. Those empty caskets must be from people coming in and stealing jewellery etc. This is just a sad sad story I’m sure there’s many places just like this. In my Māori ( New Zealand) culture this wouldn’t happen Ever. We have spiritual protocols that must be followed strictly or else your ancestors will not be happy. Death and afterlife is as sacred as birth and life for us.
I feel So sad for these families 😢
It takes a sorry individual to break into graves for financial gain.
If they were cremated the cremation is done with the casket regardless if it's wood or metal.
-Former grave digger
@@RADIUMGLASSno they are not. Bodies that are cremated are placed in literal cardboard boxes that are made specifically for cremation.
Especially when you are cremated they use a cardboard box or casket
@@RADIUMGLASS Metal caskets are not cremated, especially expensive ones. The body goes into some kind of special wooden casket (at best), or shipping casket (made of some cheap wood), or as others have mentioned - cardboard type vessel which is easily incinerated, along with the remains.
This all HAS to be the result of vandals. If left alone and abandoned it would NEVER look like this. So sad. As to the graves, it's "ashes to ashes" and the dead don't know or care how nature will overtake their graves.
I still can't for the life of me, understand what would make an alleged human being want to do this to the dead. It looks like a lot of work with no guarantee of finding anything of value within.
Obviously a lot of sad individuals in this world.
prolly drug addicts@@frednugent2310
This is so sad. These are still people even if their no longer on this earth. Its heart breaking.
So heartbreaking. Thank you for sharing. 😭
You are so welcome. Thanks for watching our video.
There are forgotten and lost cemeteries all over the world. I would rather see a cemetery be lost to the forest than to be vandalized and desecrated. I once saw a video of a family cemetery in the woods close to where the family home had once been vandalized and grave robbers had attempted to dig up two of the family members. They suspected that the robbers had failed to open the underground vaults and had vandalized the many of the stones crosses and sculptures in an act of revenge for being unable to access the burial vaults. When a large mausoleum is abandoned that is a tragedy on whole different level. So many people affected.
Well done video but also one of the saddest things I have ever seen.
This is so sad . No one's love one's should be treated like this. 😕
What is the name of this cemetery? God bless these souls 🙏🏻 ❤️
And now of sudden human body's are hazardous,,,wow what excuse they use to do anything that has to do with paying for maintenance..
Well if the bodies were embalmed they are hazardous! My friend is an embalmer and funeral director he told me that the chemicals used for embalming are highly carcinogenic and toxic! Little known fact there is a high death rate of morticians because of daily exposure to such chemicals
Cranston, R.I., I believe.That placarded casket marked RI Law gave it away. I saw another video of a newscast of families having remains of Family transported to other places.
You are correct
Did anyone else notice the variety of bricks being used to seal the vaults? Incredible. Looks like they got them from scrap yards with different company names imprinted on them. Some look very old.
Never choose to be interred in a mausoleum. When the funds dry up, so does the maintenance, and this is what you get. It might happen fifty years down the road or a hundred, but it will happen.
I just want to say First off life long Rhode Island Resident and i know exactly where this Mausoleum is and why it's abandoned .. first off i do have to say your channel is the very first to video tape this Mausoleum and Cemetery in the day time outstanding work but the information you were saying is 1/4 correct and i really can sit here and correct what is correct information its just too much to put down it will turn into a 500 page novel ... The key points Price tag 3 million was correct but that was a few years ago now 5 or more million to remove the body"s 2 there are not 500 body"s inside about 200 bodies have been removed from family members ... but this is true dead bodies have been stolen from there WHY well i know why not getting into it ... 3 The State of RI will not touch this Mausoleum because its still Private Property the legal cost and the responsibility is insane and the City of Cranston RI will not even touch this problem to much $$$$$ Trying to make this short and sweet 4 not sure when this was Video taped but about a year ago the whole cemetery and Mausoleum area was cleaned up just in one year all the volunteers that help clean up the place was just giving the slime of the earth a clean slate of canvas to retrash the place and all the weeds and trees have just grown back like wildfire Ok just a few more 5 not sure who was inside but if you kept on going all the paper work and all the personal records are still inside the old Mausoleum and lastly 6 i was just laughing in a good way but at 23.47 mark the machine that was on the floor is a calculator yes the 100 pound calculator it was just like a typewriter .. again do have to say nice work how you 2 did a really nice job filming this place But Cranston is not a major city not even close it borders the City of Providence RI witch is the Capital city of Rhode Island and you Right its in that area that"s where all the scum live third world country and i am saying that really nicely
Well said I worked for a cemetery and yes this is private property and people pay more to be placed in a mausoleum which is the worst place to be placed than ground due to neglect and wooden caskets cost more and are a bad choice as gases explode them and don’t pay extra for vaults or seals on caskets in ground as water is allowed in and out. There is a lot of shady costs that Funeral homes charge to grieving families that’s a B S deal . I worked for one , very sad,😢
Bodies stolen?
im in philippines and i thank you to your cemetery tour i love it
Thanks for watching our video.
Oh My Goodness! I am shocked at seeing this video and also puzzled. I see numerous vaults in this Mausoleum opened, where are the bodies? This is terrible. I heard him say that maybe they were cremated after it became abandoned. This is sick and truly sad.
I’ve seen a few news videos of family members having their loved ones removed and relocated to another cemetery. I also saw a news video of a local funeral director has offered to move the bodies but the city doesn’t have the money todo it.
@@garylamontagne7230: Well I certainly hope that someone comes up with a viable solution. Because this is a terrible thing!
@@garylamontagne723012:13
Well this is Rhode Island, so I'm sure they have money for illegal immigrants, but none for this 🙄
@@kevincorbi6940
The home of Lovecraft.Was he alive he could write a terror tale about this.
Terrible that this happens in a country that sends space probes to the farthest boundaries of the space.
I could hear the anguish in your voice when you seen the grave covered by vines. This is very sad. I hope they can keep it cleaned up.
Omg, this is terrible. It is so bad to see that people don't care. Another cemetery that is bad is the one Hurricane Katrina hit. With the flooding the caskets settled on top of each other and it is abandoned also. You can see bones in some of the graves that's open. It is on a busy street as well. It seems like something could be done for these places. Such a tragedy. Thanks for another great video.
How can people forget about this place
They should have removed all the bodies before it got to this condition.
This sad and so shameful that nobody has complained this is their final Resting Place OMG
@@tamaramadison7563 I agree with you on that matter young lady 💐🌹
Whoever those two sisters were that inherited the place but did nothing to sell it or somehow preserve it before they died makes me think they were either nuts or simply didn’t care. Would like to know if they themselves are buried there? Probably not.
Yes I'd like to know their names and ethnicity.
I’m used to cemeteries being run by local authorities and thank God this wouldn’t happen. Mausoleums are much more scarce here and those that are wouldn’t end up like this. It’s so sad to see this happen. It must have cost the families a lot of money to have their loved ones in a mausoleum. When I first saw videos of mausoleums I thought it was a lovely way to be “buried” but now seeing how so many are abandoned and trashed they make my blood run cold.
City cemeteries are no better. They’re about as badly neglected with the only maintenance done by the city consisting of them cutting the grass once a month… maybe… probably… possibly…
Any knocked over headstones or damaged graves have to be dealt with by the family or volunteers.
This is one of the reasons the emerging concept of composting bodies makes so much sense. The disappointment of how terribly caskets decay over time; especially when they are often marketed as sealed, etc. Unless a body is sealed in a vault, decay will happen. I really respect the Jewish tradition of no embalming and burial in a wooden coffin with holes drilled in the body to let nature reclaim the body as is intended by our creator.
That is a biohazard in itself. And dehumanizing! This is probably done just to push people to your disgusting solution! You want this! Psychopath!
I'm practically in tears seeing this. 🥺
people spend thousands of dollars for a casket just for it and the body rot away to dust,,,insane.
Need those guys who go around cleaning up peoples overgrown yards for free .
This is horribly sad!
The problem with cemeteries and mausoleums is that without continued revenue coming in, there’s no money to pay for maintenance and upkeep.
In Europe they vacate the crypts after 25 years, cremate the remains, and prepare for the next occupant. It costs a lot of money to maintain these sites, so the only way they can provide care is to resell them.
That's a damn shame
So heartbreaking 😔💔
It really is. Thanks for checking out our video.
Nothing but DISRESPECT
It's sad too because there's still CREMAINS left behind....I feel sorry for the loved ones.
This is heartbreaking. Cemeteries are sacred places. These people were once like me and you. Human remains should be treated with respect and given dignity. This is just a disgrace.
You guys have got balls man. You would NOT catch me in that place, particularly on my own 😮
It’s both maddening and sad to see these places of rest in this state. It is one thing to see them deteriorate due to age and the lack of upkeep. However, the vandalism is completely horrific and heartbreaking.
13:29. That's an old adding machine. Kinda like a mechanical calculator.
I think that most of the time after 50yrs,there are few family members left.
There are few family members who care.
@@user-xj9du3kx7u or they just don't have the money. If I had to have my grandparents disinterred I'd go into debt. I have the greatest respect for Grandfather Stott's memory, but paying to relocate him would be - no joke intended - a dead loss. (Grandmother Stott could be swept out into the street for all I care. She was evil.)
You know, I don't understand graveyards like that
This is really making a good argument for cremation and scattering ashes.
Parks and Recreation and the Genealogy Society should take over and care and tend to these Cemeteries, this is just breaking my heart..
The city should be the ones doing the cleaning up with the cemetery. . Thank u for doing this video I enjoyed it . Be safe my dude
We agree with that for sure. Thanks for watching! We greatly appreciate the support.
I've heard of this place before, so very sad💔🪦
Thanks for watching Brenda. We always appreciate the continued support!
@@abandonedcentral You're welcome
Sadness you can actually feel.
Appalling failure of the municipal authorities.
Its also appalling that the internment records no longer exist.. how can this be? Its not even 100 years old! Our parish church in England has internment records going back to 1500...
I mean people were stjll being interred there in the 50s...
I would hate to have to clean that mess up.
I truly don't understand how cities get that way. Maintaining them should be a priority. Out of respect for those buried there, and the families who not only paid a lot to bury their loved one but also should be able to visit them without all the decay & neglect 😤
Get ahold of the governor of that state that is a disgrace
Very sad..
Imagine the desperation one must feel to squat in a place like that.
Some of those plants/trees surrounding the gravestones are beautiful- they just need a little TLC. The inside...well, words can't describe. I would think the community could make a wkend (or two) volunteer clean- up and take care of their heritage.
If it's a denomination cemetery, the nearest affiliated church should get a youth project going.
Someone needs to do something about this! 😢😢
Its been on the news many times. The city, mayor and everyone else clearly knows about it and decided to do nothing because of the financial cost and hazard to remove them. Its nothing something you can just get a crew together and start cleaning like you previously commented. At-least the mausoleum isn't. The graveyard yes, still the residents and the state officials do the bare minimum.
Why cant the community get together and at least weed all the outside graves? 🥺 what happened to being there for one another?
I know I am being slightly facetious here, but you do know the vast majority of people in general don't give as shit. Especially about stuff such as this. Most people don't even pick up stray garbage or pop cans on their own property that may fly off the garbage trucks on windy garbage days. I usually pick it up. I CARE, you may care - but we're of the lower percentage of people.
@JohnnyangelNIU it's sad really 😞
Sometime in the last year or so, the city made this place much harder to enter. The windows are all boarded up and bolted metal bars are placed across them.
I was wondering why I couldn't find any recent TH-cam videos of this place. That must be why. People can no longer get in, making it impossible for any TH-camrs to film. Thanks for the update!
With the high costs of casket burials, the cost of the plots, etc, it would seem more feasible to have the remains removed form the caskets to be cremated and reburied in another cemetery.
Its sad not even Churches would help to clean outside area. We should be ashamed. The remaining in the mauselem should be cremated and the building torn down.
Thank you for showing this video
So sad. 😥
The state needs to step in. There is absolutely no other option. Take care of this now while the building is still standing and you can get the bodies out instead of waiting until it collapses and you have a disaster on your hands.
So sad 🙏🙏
All the things said and explained in the video are right and sensible
and certainly the deceased deserve respect and dignity...
but I am not surprised that certain cemeteries are in such conditions,
given that there is not even respect and dignity for living people.
Where I live those structures where they store people are all outside and well cared for - you get one for 50 years, then you have to renew it - if now renewed for a further 50 years then you are removed and cremated to free up to plot for someone else.
It's disgusting to let places like this to go rack and ruin
This is a great argument for cremation and scattering ashes, or aquamation and simply flushing the remains, or human composting.
It's ashame to let them like that
It's not sad, the Bible states, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Just as your curiosity to go in it, my curiosity to open the caskets. The caskets are rotted, and rusted. The only thing that is sad, is even after death, trying to prevent decay, is not possible. Thanks for sharing an intriguing video sir.
So sad some of their plaques were ripped off the wall :(
Interesting article about Joseph William Sternman 1902-1927, who is interred there. He was drowned in a submarine accident. The USS-4 was an S class Submarine that was struck and sunk by a US Coast Guard Destroyer. Men were trapped and air was running out. They sent a Morse coded message, “Is there any hope?” A Capt King sent back, “There is hope. Everything possible is being done.” Thwarted by bad weather, they were not able to be rescued. Very sad. All 40 men aboard perished. This young man was one of them. His widow is buried next to him.
Wow thats a crazy story. Wish I was able to include that info into our video. Thanks for watching!
@@abandonedcentral His wife is buried next to him…..
Nothing lasts forever. These places are very sad to see on so many levels.
very sad.
Since the burial records have been lost someone needs to go there to do readings of the name plates and post photos of them on Find a Grave.
Thankfully, my one aunt is buried in a very well maintained mousoleum and cemetery in Sun City AZ. But I can see your point. I'm going to be cremated and my ashes scattered over the train tracks here in town. That will take care of this problem. Have a blessed day everyone
So sad almost makes you not want family to spend money to bury you somewhere nice. Just so it can be desecrated, vandalized, and forgotten. Cremation and scattering ashes is starting to sound better and better
Even though the cemetery is abandon, people still go there out of respect. All the vases, knickknacks, and statues look clean as they were just placed there.
FYI, the cemetery is NOT abandoned. In fact, there are several burials each month. I know this for a fact because I live just 200 yards away on the Providence side of the city line. One important fact : the cemetery and the mausoleum are NOT connected in any way other than proximity. The Oakland Cemetery was incorporated in the city of Cranston in the 1850s. Virtually all of the recent burials are in the better kept sections closest to Broad Street. If you access GOOGLE Earth and check the aerial view of the cemetery
[Use this address : Oakland Cemetery, 1569 Broad St, Cranston, RI 02905], you'll notice an interesting anomaly. The majority of the recent burials are head to foot in what must have been the walkways between the original burial plots. I have personally seen very large funeral processions (20 cars or more) following a hearse through the gates. In fact,
I have seen funeral processions so large that many cars had to park on Broad Street. The fact that there are still frequent burials would seem to indicate that SOMEONE owns or controls the cemetery property, and is collecting funds from the sale of grave sites. The question is WHO... and where is that money going ? FYI, there is a phone number listed for the cemetery, but I haven't bothered to call it.
The Roger Williams Park Mausoleum (no connection whatsoever to the city park in Providence) was built in 1926 by a private investor, William Cullinan, on vacant land next to the cemetery. Mr. Cullinan and his family actually lived in a house on the property. His unmarried daughters continued to live in the house until they died in 2000 and 2002, both in their 90s. There were no heirs to the property (or else no one claimed it) and there was only $12,000 left in the endowment fund. Nowhere near what was needed to maintain the mausoleum. The building was already in bad shape when the Cullinan Sisters died. Unclaimed and not maintained, it has only gotten worse with the passage of time.
Such ashame.
Death is final. Eventually, won't all cemeteries be this way? The dead really are gone.