Cemeteries create niche for cremations

<!–Saxotech Paragraph Count: 9
–>

More South Carolinians than ever before are choosing to have their remains cremated, good news for crematoriums and makers of urns but bad news for cemetery owners and casket makers.

Cremation is less expensive in most cases and it gives family members more options for the remains. It’s also something different than the traditional burial, which has made it appealing to more people today.

The national average cost for a funeral and burial in 2009 was $6,560, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. That’s compared to a $1,650 average for cremation with basic memorialization services and urn, according to a 2010 report by the Cremation Association of North America.

Cremation has brought up a new set of questions: What to do with the remains? Where to visit when friends or family members want a place to reflect or remember?

“What we’re finding is people are taking their cremated remains home and 5, 10, 15 years from now they’re not doing anything with them,” said Chris Hamiel, director of cremation services for Stewart Enterprises, which owns Cannon Memorial Park in Fountain Inn.

To answer those questions and bridge the gap between traditional burials and cremations, Cannon Memorial Park has opened a new concept that it calls “cremation with remembrance.”

Perched on top of a hill at the back right-hand side of the cemetery, Cannon has built the Whispering Waters Cremation Garden. A stone wall wraps around the entrance to a quiet space filled with trees, flowers and shrubs. A stone walkway winds its way through the garden. A waterfall spills over rocks at one end while a fountain sits next to a wooden pavilion at the garden’s center.

“We’ve created these gardens so people have a place to go at critical times of the year, like holidays,” Hamiel said. “So there’s always a place to go remember.”

Looking closer, visitors can spot pedestals with space for urns to be locked inside. More spaces surround the fountain while hundreds of other spaces could be created in walls or next to walkways.

Leave a Reply