Atlanta Funeral Homes Atlanta, GA

Atlanta cemeteries add services to attract customers

by Matthew Brady

Families wrestling with the question of whether to choose a traditional burial or cremation for a loved one may find the right answer by combining the two services.

Cecil Coke, president of Riverside Cemetery in Macon [Ga.], says cemeteries can accommodate both the permanency of a traditional cemetery marker with the affordability of cremation. Some options for ashes include a 3-foot-by-3-foot cremation plot for $900 (about half the price of a regular plot), interment with a traditionally buried loved one or interment in an above-ground columbarium.

"It gives a place that is permanent to record that person's life," Coke says. "Maybe their home place will be sold or torn down. That monument will remain."

Nationwide, the percentage of cremated deaths has more than doubled in 25 years to 36 percent. That is expected to reach 57 percent by 2015, according to the Cremation Association of North America. CANA and the National Funeral Directors Association cite affordability as a major factor. The average cremation costs $1,650, compared with the average burial cost of $7,755, not including the cost of the plot and marker.

To remain competitive, cemeteries are expanding their services and education initiatives. Some open their grounds for fun runs and festivals, such as Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery, which hosts a Run Like Hell 5K Halloween race and Sunday in the Park street festival.

Riverside opens its gates for annual Halloween tours and occasional outdoor movie screenings. "It creates a community connection with the cemetery," Coke says. "It's not a sad place. It's not a spooky place. It's a beautiful place."

Photo courtesy of Historic Oakland Foundation | Events such as the Run Like Hell 5K provide funds to help maintain Oakland Cemetery and its grounds.

Charles Bowen Jr., vice president of Westview Cemetery on the west side of Atlanta, relies on direct marketing to attract customers. "I come from the old school," he says. "To have a festival out here, I don't consider that appropriate."

But he says cemeteries can do more than traditional burials. In addition to its mausoleum and columbarium, Bowen says Westview is considering a scatter garden for ashes, as is Riverside. This feature allows cremains to be scattered but marked with a plaque. Cemetery costs range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand, based on the location of the plot, and size and material of the marker.

Melissa Allen of Sandersville says the choice between cremation and burial boiled down to "gut instinct" when her father, an Atlanta resident, died in 2009. She chose the traditional route with highly rated Ford-Stewart Funeral Home and Sherwood Memorial Park and Mausoleum, both in Jonesboro [Ga.].

Going through the process with her dad made it easier to talk about it with her mother, she says. Now she knows what her mother wants when she dies, down to the type of casket and plot of land.

Bowen says he understands people's desire to scatter their ashes on a mountaintop or lake, but it doesn't provide a permanent place for their loved ones to memorialize them. "That's one thing people don't think about," he says.