Which Cemetery Burial Choice is Right for You?

How Would You Like to Be Memorialized?

What's your style and how would you like to keep alive the memory of…you?  Further, with a number of options, which choice is most appealing?

 To help you arrive at this profoundly personal answer, consider which approach best reflects your preference.

The Five Types of Memorialization

1. In-Ground Burial. The traditional choice, in-ground burial consists of five components:

• Gravesite - also known as "space," "plot," "land," or "cemetery property."
  
• Vault - a concrete enclosure placed in a gravesite, serves as a casket's protective lining. A vault is closed and sealed after casket placement; this ensures the cemetery space provides safe, sure-footing for your loved ones.
  
• Casket - also known as a "coffin," it displays and contains the deceased for either burial or cremation.
  
• Opening-and-Closing - preparation of the gravesite for burial service consists of ground opening, closing (back-filling), and landscaping (to restore the gravesite's appearance).
  
• Memorial - a tribute installed at the gravesite, it honors and celebrates a life worth remembering. Memorials are flat bronze "markers" (installed at memorial parks) or they are upright granite "monuments" (installed at cemeteries).
  

2. Above-ground Burial: Community Mausoleum

A community mausoleum is an above-ground building that memorializes many people. You select the space location ("crypt"), and whether you want a single or "companion" crypt (holds two). You also select crypt location level (eye-level is most desirable for most families). Community mausoleums enable frequent visits in any type of weather. Casket and opening-and-closing services are necessary. Vault and memorial are not.

3. Above-ground Burial: Private Mausoleum

Private mausoleums ("Family Plot"), as the name suggests, provide a distinctly separate, private structure to memorialize you and your loved ones. Private mausoleums enable frequent visits in any type of weather. It's your own private sanctuary that provides a climate-controlled and comfortable environment where loved ones can honor you and pray with one another. Caskets and opening-and-closings are necessary; a vault and memorial are not.

4. Combination In-Ground /Above-ground Burial: Lawn Crypt

A lawn crypt which holds two is similar to a traditional in-ground burial, yet offers a key benefit that is inherent in above-ground burials—the space remains clean and dry. Directly below the vault area we will install a water drainage system giving you added protection from nature's elements. A casket, memorial, and opening-and-closing service are necessary; but a vault is not.

5. Cremation

For some, cremation feels like the right choice. A "crematorium" performs the cremation. There are many options for memorializing the cremated. Some choose to scatter cremated remains in a cemetery scattering garden, at sea, or other place with special meaning. Others choose to place the cremains in a cremation "urn" then bury the urn in a gravesite space, urn garden, community mausoleum "niche," or a "columbarium" (urn mausoleum). Some even choose to place the urn in the survivor’s home.

If you wish, a viewing and a full funeral service can still be held. A casket is optional, depending on whether or not a “direct” cremation is performed (that is, the body is cremated immediately upon death). A vault, memorial, and opening-and-closing service will be necessary if the urn is buried in a gravesite space. A niche opening-and-closing service will be necessary if the urn is placed in a mausoleum or columbarium niche.