Source: ICFFA Consumer Resource Guide on Cemetery and Burial
Cemeteries usually are divided into two broad categories: traditional cemeteries and memorial parks or gardens. A traditional cemetery, the type used for many generations, has upright monuments, usually made of stone. Many traditional cemeteries also have private mausoleums for above-ground interment. Because many have functioned in their communities for over 100 years, traditional cemeteries typically contain a great deal of history, such as architecture, statuary and other art, as well as the personages interred there. They often feature lush landscaping and impressive greenery.
Memorial parks and gardens are a newer type of cemetery introduced about 75 years ago. They are cemeteries without tombstones: parks and gardens where bronze memorials are placed level with the ground to blend with the beauty of the landscape. They often feature expansive lawns with a variety of trees, flowering beds and gardens, as well as fountains, sculpture or memorial architecture.
Some cemeteries have both traditional upright monument sections and garden sections. Both types of cemeteries may offer above-ground interment in community mausoleums. Both traditional cemeteries and memorial parks may be operated on a for-profit or not-for-profit basis. They may be owned by an individual or by a corporation. Some are owned mutually, and many are the property of towns, counties and religious or fraternal groups. Both may have chapels, crematories, community mausoleums, mortuaries or funeral homes and columbariums.
For answers to similar questions, visit the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association’s Consumer Resource Guide.
About The Plot ExchangeFounded in 1999 by Internet Publisher Michael D. Martin
Martin, a State of California licensed cemetery broker and funeral insurance agent – with over a decade of direct cemetery property sales experience – began publication of PlotExchange.com because “the public is generally unaware of cost-effective approaches in purchasing cemetery property and making funeral arrangements.”
PlotExchange.com provides consumers the opportunity to access a current – and free – consolidation of cemetery property and related funeral goods and services at reasonable and negotiable prices.
Pricing OptionsFree one month trial period (Credit card needed to secure listing)
$5.95 monthly after free trial
Listing Features
State-of-the-art Internet Security for Protection of Personal Data
E-commerce, Online Purchasing and Publishing of Classified Ads
Free Access to a State Licensed Cemetery Broker
128-bit Secure Socket Layer Protocol (SSL)
SSL Encrypted Transactions by COMODO
Interactive Map Link Inserted Into Ads
Authorize.net as Payment Gateway
E-mail Security to Prevent Spam
Inclusion of Three Photos in Ad
7/24 Online Internet Presence
7/24 Control of Ad for Edits
Easy Ad Management
Free E-mail Tech Support
LinksThe Plot Exchange: www.plotexchange.com About this ReviewThere are services available online that will list your cemetery property for sale online for a fee. Buyers and sellers use these services to find cemetery property available at discounted rates from individuals who have owned the property and no longer need it. This is a review of one of those listing services. Reviews include a short description of the service, screen captures showing their website and current pricing information. Visit the listing service’s website for more information.
Steve Spann, President of John A. Gupton College shares tips on buying a cemetery plot as a part of the funeral planning process. John A. Gupton College provides a professional curriculum in the funeral arts and sciences.
Publication: Telegraph.co.uk
Author: Peter Foster
Date: April 03, 2008
Article Excerpt:
As millions of Chinese pause to honour their ancestors and tidy their graves this weekend at the annual Qingming, or “Tombsweeping” festival, the skyrocketing price of cemetery plots and funeral services has become a focus of national anger.
“Too poor to live, to poor to die” is how one newspaper the northeastern city Harbin headlined a report complaining that cemetery plots were now costing more per square metre than luxury apartments.
The spiralling cost of funerals is doubly sensitive in China where filial piety, including honouring and respecting one’s ancestors, ranks even above love for one’s country among the traditional Confucian hierarchy of virtues.
One way to plan in advance for the end of one’s life is to sign a formal contract called a “preneed funeral plan.” With this plan, money to pay for a funeral and/or burial is held in a trust, in an escrow account or paid through an insurance policy on the life of the person desiring the plan. Parts of or all of the funeral service and burial are designed in advance and pre-funded in advance and the family has little to do but show up.
Source: ICFFA Consumer Resource Guide on Cemetery and Burial
Can I resell my grave?
It really depends on the rules and regulations of the cemetery and the laws of the state or province in which the cemetery is located. While some cemeteries will repurchase graves, others have laws restricting the resale to a third party.
What happens if I buy cemetery property here in advance and later move to another area?
Many cemeteries now belong to credit exchange programs which allow for a dollar-for-dollar transfer of services and merchandise between participating cemeteries. When prearranging, be sure to ask your local provider about exchange privileges offered.
For answers to similar questions, visit the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association’s Consumer Resource Guide.
In this blog post by Gerard Van Der Leun he explains how a recent deceased adventurer gives him a gift through his final resting place.
…At first I was a bit disoriented inside the gates since the one-lane road winds hither and yon around the grounds and the office with the map to the grave sites is closed on Sundays. By and by, however, I spied off to my left and over near the wall of trees and bushes and chain link fencing that is the western border of the cemetery a large white stone with two white stone benches on either side. I went over and read:
PUDDY
Come sit with us awhile and share our sorrow. Though you weep share the joyful memories too. Look in your heart: In truth you mourn for that which has been your delight.
For Joy and sorrow are inseparable.
I sat and looked north to the outer edge of the large plot that, so far, had only one grave. And there they were…
Publication: Daily News
Author: Claire Lowe
Date: October 15, 2009
Article Excerpt:
STEELMANTOWN—Driving down Steelmantown Road there is a secluded wrought iron gate that peeks out of the woods and unless you were driving there specifically, you probably wouldn’t notice the wooden sign telling passersby what they have found. A rare find indeed, the Steelmantown Cemetery is one of 12 certified green burial sites in the nation.
People from as far north as Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., make it their last wish to be laid to rest at this forested burial ground.
Green burials date back to the beginning of mankind, long before anyone was being ‘green’ and long before there were other ways to bury someone. The concept is simple, go back into the earth in the most natural way possible. And to make sure Steelmantown Cemetery can only ever do green burials, Edward Bixby II had the property deed restricted.
In a cash-strapped economy where some have been forced to sell off the family burial plots, residents are snapping up spaces in the city’s cemetery.
Tallmadge City Council approved legislation this month that doubles the cost of remaining plots for sale in the community’s land-locked cemetery. For residents who want to spend eternity in Tallmadge, the price will increase from $400 to $800 per plot on July 1. For nonresidents, the price will increase from $800 to $2,000.
Word quickly spread at the end of April as council began considering the increase for the 4-foot-by-10-foot spaces to bring the city’s prices in line with other municipal cemeteries.
The land rush began almost immediately. And by last week only about 350 remained.
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