My grandparents are in a memorial garden and therefore have one of those flat rectangular stones with a metal plaque on top. It is slightly raised but the basic idea is that the marker lies flush with the ground and makes life easier for maintenance and landscaping. (I sometimes question this – if maintenance ease is the goal, why do they have the big metal vases that can be pulled up and allow wreaths and decorations that would still get in the way?) I know my grandmother selected the marker, but I am not fond of it, particularly because of its flat nature. I think it’s because I’ve seen too many stones which have fallen and sunk like these.
I think I’ve seen them in every cemetery I’ve visited – once upright tombstones that are broken and lying on the ground. The dirt and grass start at the edges.
If the stones aren’t picked up and reinforced to stand again, in another few years, there will be only a fresh new patch of grass and maybe some wildflowers.
How much history do we lose every time vegetation grows over a tombstone?
A Grave Concern 