Wise Cemetery
The Wise Cemetery is located on Church Street. It is owned and operated by the Town of Wise. Cemetery maintenance is handled by the Public Works Department (328-6119). For information on purchasing a lot, or to access records and deeds, please call the Town Manager’s office at 328-6013.
General
Any person wishing to purchase a lot in the Wise Cemetery shall contact the Town Manager’s office to view a plat of the cemetery showing burial space layout and designating those plots which have been sold. Any person purchasing a burial plot shall abide by all rules and regulations, and any amendments thereto, enacted by the Town Council for the management and control of the Wise Cemetery and every allotment of space shall be deemed to be made subject to these rules and regulations and amendments thereto.
Prospective buyers may request that the Town hold a lot in reserve for a maximum of thirty calendar days. If the lot is not obligated by a cash purchase or execution of a sales agreement on the thirtieth day following the request, the lot shall become available for sale. A lot may not be reserved more than once by the same individual or family.
Eligibility For Purchase
Burial lots in the Wise Cemetery are available for purchase by persons or by family members of persons who live in the immediate Wise area defined as the 24293 mailing zip code. Eligibility of other addressees to purchase burial lots shall be subject to the discretion of the Town Manager who shall, at a minimum, ascertain that the purchaser or the deceased once had an established residence in the immediate Wise area. Bulk purchases of lots by any individual or family may be limited by the Town Manager at any time.
Prices
Each grave space shall be sold at a cost of $1000 per burial plot.
Payments
Lots must be paid for in full within twelve months from the date the sales agreement is signed. A 10% deposit shall be required as a down payment in order to execute a sales agreement for the purchase of burial lots. Sales agreements will include a maximum of twelve equal monthly installments, with payment in full due by the twelfth month after execution of the sales agreement. Interest shall accrue on installments at the rate of 10% per annum. No burial shall take place on a plot which has not been paid in full unless prior to interment, the funeral home in charge of arrangements agrees in writing to render payment in full within sixty calendar days from the date of interment. In the event that the Buyer does not make any two consecutive payments on the due date, the Buyer shall forfeit all payments made prior to default.
Deed
Upon payment of the purchase price in full, the Town will cause to be issued a deed for said lot under its seal. Owners are strongly encouraged to record the deed in the Clerk’s Office of the Wise County Circuit Court. In this way, a permanent record will be acknowledged and kept.
Ownership
The term “ownership” of a cemetery lot shall be construed to mean the right to use a lot for burial purposes of the remains of bodies of a human being only. Burial lots are exempt from taxation and cannot be attached, levied on, or encumbered in any way. Only those persons whose name(s) appear on the Deed issued by the Town will be recognized as owners or part owners of cemetery lots. Any improvements placed on the burial lot (i.e. stones, decorations, etc. are the property of the owner. The Town assumes no responsibility or liability for any damage to any cemetery lot or to improvements placed on any burial lot. Neither the Town of Wise nor any officer, official, or employee of the Town shall be liable to any person on account of damage, destruction, or detriment to any burial lot or grave, any monument or marker, any planting, or any other improvement.
Transfer of Title
Title to cemetery lots may be transferred by any living owner so long as the grave lot is not resold for a price which is greater than the original purchase price plus the annual United States Department of Commerce Cost if Living increase for each year that the owner has been in possession of a deed for said grave lot.
Title to cemetery lots may be transferred by will upon receipt of a certified copy of such will showing the person to whom said lot was devised. When any cemetery lot owner dies intestate, the Town shall transfer title of said cemetery lot to his heirs at law, upon receipt of a list of such heirs by the administrator or the executor of the decedent’s estate.
No grave lot(s) shall be resold without the written permission and approval of the Town Manager of the Town of Wise, Virginia for a price which is greater than the original price plus the annual United States Department of Commerce Cost of Living increase for each year the owner has held the lot.
Interment
No burial shall take place on a lot which has not been paid in full unless prior to interment, the funeral home in charge of arrangements agrees in writing to render payment in full within sixty calendar days from the date of interment.
Consistent with industry practice one burial lot may contain (a) one casketed burial and up to three inurned cremated remains or (by) a total of four inurned cremated remains.
Recognized that burial lots are of limited quantity in Wise, the Wise Cemetery will remain a place for interment of human remains only as defined by Virginia Code Section 54.1-2310.
Improvements - Stones, Landscaping, & Decorations
No grave stone or marker in the Wise Cemetery shall be higher than 48 inches above the dye. All graves shall be marked within six months of burial with a permanent marker. Only persons, firms, or corporations qualified to work in Virginia may set a monument or marker. Said persons, firms, or corporations must have workers compensation coverage.
Mounds shall not be raised on any grave above the general level of the lot.
No trees or shrubs shall be planted at the grave sites. This is to include any type of flower which due to its shape and size becomes bushy, thus creating a maintenance problem for the Town of Wise. The Town of Wise retains the right to judge whether or not a flower meets this criteria and the right to remove.
No new plantings, fences, or enclosures of any kind will be permitted on or around cemetery lots.
As soon as flowers, wreaths, emblems, etc. used at funerals or placed on graves at other times become unsightly or faded, they will be removed. The Town of Wise assumes no responsibility for their protection or maintenance.
No mausoleum shall be permitted in the Wise cemetery except as the Town may construct to meet the needs of the community.
