Services

Traditional Burial	Mausoleum Entombment	Cremation	Schedule of Charges

Elmwood Cemetery offers a wide variety of services and options from which you may choose. From traditional burial in our gardens, to our mausoleums, which feature above ground entombment and niche selections, you’ll feel comfortable knowing you’ve selected a place of distinction. Individual and family spaces are available in various settings, offering alternative surroundings to satisfy your personal preferences. We encourage your desire to create an enduring memorial that is both personal and distinctive.

Elmwood’s Advisors provide caring and professional guidance, fully and clearly explaining all of the details involved in planning. Their years of experience working with virtually every family preference and individual situation, enable them to present you with a wide array of options. They’ll guide you through the selection process so you’ll feel certain you’ve made the decisions that are right for you and your family.

Frequently Asked Questions
Is There a Time Limit After a Death for a Person to be Buried?
States have different laws, some limit the maximum time before final disposition. Things that must be considered: securing official permits and authorizations, notifying friends and family, preparation of the burial site and religious requirements. Your funeral director will be well versed on these and other regulations.

What About Embalming -- Is It Required?
No. Embalming is a matter of choice. Your decision will be influenced by several factors: 1. length of time between death and burial; 2. the deceased's appearance in an open casket for public viewing or private viewing by family members; 3. transportation of the body by plane or train.

What Are "Opening and Closing Fees?"
Fees for "Opening and Closing" cover the cost of many separate services performed by cemetery personnel. They include administering and permanent record keeping which encompasses the determination of ownership, obtaining necessary permission and completing all other necessary documents, including entering the interment details in the interment register and maintaining all legal files. The fees also include actually opening and closing the grave. We locate and lay out the boundaries of the grave, excavate and fill the space. We also install and remove the lowering device, place and remove artificial grass at the grave site, level, tamp, re-grade and seed the grave site, and level and re-seed it again if the earth settles.

What is a Burial Vault?
A burial vault is the outside container into which the casket itself is placed. It is designed to protect the casket and keep the grave surface from sinking. Burial vaults vary and can be built of one or more of the following materials: concrete, stainless steel, galvanized steel, copper, bronze, plastic and fiberglass. Elmwood Cemetery requires the use of a burial vault.

May I Make the Necessary Arrangements in Advance?
Yes. You can make all arrangements in advance. Planning ahead lets you consider the options you prefer and make the decisions about your funeral, your cemetery arrangements and memorial. They will be meaningful decisions that will give you peace of mind, knowing that you have relieved your loved ones of the emotional and financial burden of having to make decisions in their time of grief. It's also a wise economic choice, because you purchase at today's prices, free from future inflationary pressures.

What Happens if I Buy Property at Elmwood in Advance, and Then Move Somewhere Else?
The professional staff at Elmwood can assist you in evaluating several options for the disposition of your graves, crypts or niches. They can also provide you with information on cemeteries in your new city of residence. The options range from structuring a donation of your graves to Elmwood, to assisting you in handling a resale of the spaces on your behalf, to actually re-purchasing the graves, crypts, or niches from you.

When I Buy a Grave, Do I Receive a Deed?
No. The purchase of a grave is really a purchase of the right to designate who may be buried in that grave, and what kind of memorial you want, subject to what the cemetery's rules permit. You're not really purchasing the land or the actual grave. They remain the property and responsibility of the cemetery.

What is Endowment Care?
Endowment care income, a portion of the purchase price contributed to a special fund, provides for regular care and maintenance of the cemetery, which can include mowing, regrading, planting and maintaining trees, roads, drainage and more. The minimum amount that can be contributed to the endowment care fund is usually legally mandated.

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Mausoleum Entombment

Once exclusively for the wealthy and famous, mausoleum entombment is now well within reach for families looking for the simplicity and dignity of above ground burial. Elmwood Cemetery offers a variety of mausoleum crypt configurations including individual, companion and family crypts, available in marble or granite.

Interesting fact: The first mausoleum, built and named for Mausolus, a beloved minor monarch who would otherwise have been forgotten, but whose tomb is now one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Options
Once thought of as a place for the wealthy, mausoleum entombment is now available to almost anyone who desires the comfort and dignity of above ground burial. Completed in 1994, Elmwood’s Mausoleum Plaza Complex is situated on a serene site beside a calmly flowing brook. The Complex features a sheltered, indoor mausoleum with four galleries offering both individual and companion crypts fronted with a beautiful Portuguese Rose marble and distinctive bronze lettering. Protected from the elements, it provides a stately memorial by which to honor and remember your loved ones year round.

For families who prefer a peaceful setting, the Plaza Complex is ideal, offering a varied array of resting places amidst a beautiful, historical setting. Individuals may choose from crypts or cremation niches, or turf-top crypts, with full-length memorials, located within the Plaza.

Frequently Asked Questions
Why Choose a Mausoleum?
Mausoleums provide the prestige, dignity and serenity of above ground burial that includes a clean, dry, ventilated entombment. Indoor mausoleums provide a relaxing and comfortable environment for families to visit their loved ones regardless of the weather.

What Makes Mausoleum Entombment the Wise Financial Choice?
Above ground burial compares favorably with the cost of in-ground burial by eliminating the need for lots, vaults, monuments and memorials. In one indoor, above ground space, the concrete vault is sealed and the casket is protected from the elements.

Elmwood offers low down payments, interest-free financing and special savings on companion crypts, making the choice of mausoleum entombment even more affordable.

How Will I Feel, Visiting a Mausoleum?
The atmosphere of a mausoleum is reverent, peaceful and inspiring. Consider Elmwood’s Mausoleum Plaza Complex where the crypts are within rooms with peaked glass entry and skylights. The soft colors of the rich marble and the abundance of natural light creates a pleasing space. The complex is entered over a bridge and is framed by the creek and a hillside leading up to the historic chapel.

When Can Friends and Family Visit Mausoleum Crypts?
All year-round, in any weather, you can pay homage to the memory of departed loved ones in a beautiful, inspirational setting.

Is Embalming Necessary When Selecting a Crypt?
The rules and regulations of Elmwood require embalming when selecting above ground entombment.

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Cremation

The options for handling your cremated remains are many. You may decide to be embalmed and have a casket, full service and viewing hours with cremation being performed after a funeral service. You may choose to have your remains scattered or placed in an urn of your choosing for burial in a traditional plot or placement in a mausoleum niche.

Options
The simplicity, dignity and affordability of cremation has made it a popular choice among followers of most faiths. Available both inside and outside our Mausoleum Plaza Complex, niches are fronted with either elegant Rose marble or granite. Both individual and companion niches are available throughout the Plaza.

Cremated remains may also be buried in a family lot, or in any private lot throughout our cemetery. Cenotaph plaques, memorializing loved ones whose remains are located elsewhere, are also available on family lots.

Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cremation?
Cremation involves placing the deceased in a special chamber in a building called a crematorium and incinerating the body at high temperatures for several hours until it is reduced to a fine white powder. Because of its simplicity, dignity and affordability, cremation is the most popular option to the traditional funeral and burial.

How Prevalent is it?
Cremation has seen a steady rise in acceptance in the US over the past four decades among people of all backgrounds and faiths. In 1960 cremation accounted for less than 4% of American final arrangements, but today the rate is over 25%. By the year 2010 cremation will account for 40% of arrangements.

Do I Need a Casket if I'm Being Cremated?
With cremation, neither a casket nor embalming is generally required. However, you can always choose to be embalmed, and have a casket, full service and viewing hours. Cremation can be performed without a service or done before or after a funeral service. Cremated remains may be scattered, kept at home, buried in a cemetery, or kept in a columbarium, a structure containing niches into which urns are placed.

Why is Cremation Becoming More Popular?
One factor is our increased mobility. People often live away from family and would prefer to have their remains “closer to home,” where they have a stronger attachment, and where family and friends may visit. Many retirees who don't feel a strong attachment to Florida, for example, would just as soon reside in an easy-to-ship, easy-to-store urn back in Michigan. The options with cremation are also continually expanding. Perhaps a person would like to be remembered in two places at once, or have their remains encased in molten glass objets d'art, or crafted into jewelry. Some people are even having their cremated remains launched into space. Literally, the sky's the limit.

Schedule of Charges

Effective January 1, 2012

Complete service includes tent, green matting, lowering device, installing and closing cemetery grave liner *, opening and closing of grave and/or use of the Chapel. Orders for interments must be placed at least 24 hours in advance of the scheduled service.

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