The 'Bone Yard' used to be common at least in the rural Southern United States. It was usually out between the barn and the woodlot and was where farm animals were dragged off to, after death. I suppose it always had the aura of death clinging to it, at least for animals, because many families had the stories of old Mollie the mule, or their 30 year old pet Shetland, who was missing one morning and was later discovered in the bone yard. Something like the fabled elephant graveyard. The phrase lingers on in the term for the area on the table where extra dominos are kept till drawn out for play. -Cynthia Mueller