Visiting the graves of your ancestors can be a powerful experience. But it’s important to be prepared and know what to expect.
Bring another person, notepaper, and a working cell phone with you when you do cemetery research. Also, be aware of potential hazards such as thorn bushes, poison ivy, and snakes.
Definition
A cemetery is a designated burial place for final resting places. It can be an independent site not associated with a particular church or even any religion. Typically, a cemetery is newer and more manicured than its graveyard counterparts and is separated into lots or plots for individual families.
Graves are dug and maintained by staff members of the cemetery who are known as cemetery caretakers. They perform a variety of tasks including opening, closing, reconditioning and staffing for funeral services. They also sell and rent burial plots, crypts or niches and assist with permanent memorialization for loved ones through headstones, monuments or plaques.
Most cemeteries keep accurate records of interments with a system of maps that are updated simultaneously. This information is important to the cemetery for management purposes and for friends or family who are looking for a specific grave. Annual meetings are held for lot owners to vote on board positions, bylaw changes and other issues.
History
During early American history, family cemeteries were popular. If a cemetery wasn’t yet established, families would dig small plots of land in wooded areas or along the edges of fields to bury their dead. The first cemeteries were also called graveyards, burial grounds or churchyards. A cemetery is a special area reserved for burial and marked by headstones or other markers.
Often, family plots are arranged around a large stone monument which may have the surname or last name of the deceased family. Then smaller stones surround the large monument with the names of individual members of the family on them.
During the Industrial Revolution, people began looking for new ways to dispose of their dead and cemeteries became popular. These new cemeteries were often outside of town, municipally run and independent from churches’ churchyards. Some were even landscaped like the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris. They were often financed by private or joint stock companies.
Locations
Many people think of cemeteries as places where they go to visit the graves of loved ones who have passed away. But there are many different types of cemeteries and they are designed to meet the cultural and religious needs of their communities. These types of cemeteries include memorial parks, garden cemeteries, natural burial grounds, municipal cemeteries, VA cemetery and full service cemeteries.
During the 19th century, as church graveyards became overcrowded new burial sites were established that were independent of churches and their graveyards. These new locations were often built on the periphery of towns and cities to provide more space.
Some people are buried in family plots where multiple family members are placed together in a single grave. Tombstones in these plots are typically raised above ground level and often decorated with engraved or painted information about the deceased family member. These stones can be a rich source of history and genealogy information.
Services
Cemeteries offer a variety of products and services to their customers. These include burial space in a grave or crypt; spaces for cremation in a columbarium or niche; and memorial services. They also provide maintenance and landscaping services to the grounds and facilities. Ongoing expenses include labor costs for gravediggers and landscapers; security and building maintenance; janitorial and cleaning services; and property taxes.
The business of a cemetery is unique in that it involves land investing with an entrepreneurial mindset. The most successful operators get creative in finding new ways to add revenue streams. That could mean partnering with funeral homes or even offering to preserve a loved one’s tattoos for posterity.
In case you were wondering about the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery, a graveyard is typically a section of an old churchyard while a cemetery is a larger and more modern site that’s separate from a place of worship. Also, a graveyard tends to have older tombstones scattered around in a more disorderly way while a cemetery is usually divided into plots for individual families.