Cohousing-L Mailing List: Community Cemetery

[Michael Whitman (Michael.Whitman]

I'm sure the laws and regulations covering interments (as opposed to scattering
ashes) on private property vary from state to state, but an excellent place to
start info-gathering is with your state's chapter of the Funeral Consumers
Alliance, which I believe used to be the Continental Association of Memorial
Societies.

In any case, their website is "funerals.org."

Lisa Carlson's book "Caring for the Dead" (originally "Caring for Your Own
Dead," I think) has a chapter on this topic.

Sharon's comments hit the mark for me, as usual: "What if someone you loved was
buried in a place you could never visit  or felt was now a strange place because
someone else bought the house? Family burial plots in the backyard or on top of
the hill assume continuity."

While I like the idea of a home funeral as much as a home birth or dy ing at
home, and would gladly be a participant in another home funeral, I know that my
surviving parent will be buried in the family plot in the town cemetery.

   michael