New green cemetery in Pennsylvania

The United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania has taken its forested grounds and turned them into an eco-cemetery, where people can have their cremated remains buried in biodegradable urns, reports the Allentown Morning Call. According to church leaders, this is a perfect way to preserve the forests. The new place also gets a pretty good thumbs up from Mark Harris, author of "Grave Matters," which touts all-natural burials as the best way to depart this earth.

Another emerging trend: new cemeteries

And here is the story of an Arizona town that has decided to create a cemetery itself, instead of relying on big, old Tucson for its needs.

Pa. group tends to neglected cemetery

This old cemetery has not had a caretaker in 10 years, so a local group set out to fix things up in a Pennsylvania community. I know I'm missing tons of stories like this, but sadly, that's the case - there *are* tons of stories like this.

U.S. Sen Menendez backs cemetery measure

New Jersey U.S. Senator Robert Menendez has helped to address the costs of maintaining and creating cemeteries for U.S. Veterans. To quote from his constituency e-mail:

Grants for Veteran Cemeteries:
With the aging of the WWII generation, we
have moved into the beginning of the period of greatest need for funding of the
Grants for State Veteran Cemeteries, but funding levels have not kept up with
need. I have helped ensure adequate funding to address the costs of constructing
new cemeteries as well as the needs of existing State Veteran Cemeteries.
Veterans of WWII are the Greatest Generation, and we must honor them as such.
The care we put into Veterans' cemeteries should appropriately reflect our
gratitude for the tremendous service and sacrifice they have made for our
nation.

You can read his full e-newsletter here.

Book review from Washington Post

Here's a piece from the Washington Post on "The American Resting Place." The Post also has audio links to an interview with author Marilyn Yalom.

Atlanta cemetery, damaged by storm, reopens

We noted earlier that a historic Atlanta cemetery was damaged by the tornado in March. Here's an update. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that it is reopening. All the cleanup is not complete, but they've opened anyway.

Cemetery enters foreclosure controversy

Here's a home-finance advice article, talking about someone interested in buying a foreclosed home -- that happens to have a cemetery in its back yard. For some of us, it would be OK, but this potential buyer has concerns, and the author of this article seems to have a problem with it, too. Why else would they keep referring to such circumstances as a "defect"? Grrrr.