 In 1847, the New York State Legislature passed the Rural Cemetery Act which authorized commercial burial grounds in New York.The law led to the burial of human remains becoming a commercial business for the first time, replacing the practice of burying the dead in churchyards or on private farmland.One effect of the law was the development of a large concentration of cemeteries along the border between the New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, often called the "Cemetery Belt".