Columbia Gets Cemetery On Private Land

The Town of Columbia acquired a cemetery this month.

At last week’s Columbia Town Board meeting, Attorney Chris Bray attended to provide some input on the unusual situation.

The matter concerns a private cemetery called the Warren Cemetery on Eberline Road.

While the property at 107 Eberline is owned by two individuals, on site is the cemetery owned by the Town.

This came to light when Columbia Town Supervisor was served with two petitions at his house by a private investigator earlier this month.

Bray explained that the petitions came from unrelated probated wills, one in 1939 and the other in 1945.

Each one established a trust fund to take care of some of the graves in the cemetery.

The 1939 Warren Trust transferred the cemetery into a trust.

It also provided $1,000 for a fence and maintenance.

The Becker Trust provided $200 to invest and use the interest to take care of two graves.

Bray said the trusts were repeatedly taken over and are now owned by Bank of America.

The bank came across them while cleaning up ...