Burial Plot

Mary Ann

I have been working on an estate notebook for my family to help with my affairs once I leave the planet.  It is done for the most part but needs some final polishing.  It feels good to take charge of something that is rather uncontrollable.  It is a bittersweet experience!  I plan to share various aspects of the estate notebook in forthcoming blogs.

In preparation for the burial section, I explored plots, headstones, and actual burial plans.  I always planned to be cremated and even considered a green burial. However, where I would be buried was the first step in this process. 

Around the corner from my house is a Quaker cemetery.  It is surrounded by hedgerows of trees and bushes and just a stone’s throw from the Quaker Meeting House.  I pass by it several times a week.  It has been calling to me for the last few years.  I have been a bit of a gypsy living in many parts of the country never quite finding a permanent home until I retired in PA near my brother.  I feel at home now, so this is a good place for my final resting place.  

The Quaker cemetery is in the country and is a rather humble graveyard.  I felt that it would be a good place to be buried.  I would be surrounded by peaceful people, many of whom are Quakers.  The beautiful location in the country welcomes wild animals and random wildflowers grow throughout.   I would like deer or foxes walking across my grave and birds fluttering above me.  

I finally stopped while I drove by one day to find the contact information.  I called to set up an appointment to view the grounds. I later met an older gentleman who explained how it worked in a Quaker cemetery.  You buy a cremation plot (there are regular plots available for caskets) where two individuals can be buried. You don’t own a particular spot just the next available plot when you pass.   For regular burials, the headstones are only 18 inches high, and for cremations headstones are flat on the ground and only your name, birth and death dates are inscribed.  Everything is simple.  You can bring flowers, but you can’t plant them.  I was fine with all of this.  

I sent in the fee, which was very reasonable, another surprise, and was given a certificate that is in the estate notebook.  I was given information about the headstone.  This company knew exactly what the Quaker cemetery required of the stone.  Again, it was a reasonable fee for it, and I was given a rendering of headstone to approve the spelling, etc.  With my luck with my name, I wanted to make sure it was exactly as I wanted.  The company will work with the cemetery and set the headstone for another small fee.  

So, the first few steps are now in place for my final resting place.  Stay tuned for my adventure to the crematory.  A new company has just opened a satellite office right down the road from me.