When deciding on a final resting place, one of the biggest questions is whether to choose burial or cremation. And for many people, when they decide on burial, they’re only familiar with the option of in-ground burial. If you choose to have your final resting place in a cemetery, it’s true that you can have a traditional, in-ground grave, but that’s not your only option.
What are the other options for burial in a cemetery?
When we talk about above-ground burials, we’re often referring to two options: community mausoleums and private mausoleums. Mausoleums are structures in a cemetery that are above ground where people are laid to rest in caskets placed in spaces called crypts. Crypts can hold one person, two people, or even entire families.
There are several benefits to choosing a mausoleum as your final resting place, particularly due to the lack of exposure to the elements. Unlike in the case of in-ground burial at a gravesite, being laid to rest in a mausoleum ensures that your burial site will not be impacted by exposure to the soil or inclement weather. This lack of exposure not only helps keep the burial site dry and clean, but it also means that when your loved ones come to see you, they don’t have to worry about the weather affecting their visit.
Community or public mausoleums are a type of mausoleum that’s designed to house people from multiple families. However, family or private mausoleums are dedicated to housing one particular family or individual. Family mausoleums afford families more privacy than a public mausoleum. When your loved ones come to visit you, they can also come to see their other loved ones and ancestors without having to share the space with other families.
These structures can be personalized to suit a particular family, and they can serve as an essential part of your family legacy. Whenever a family member passes, they will not have to question where they will spend their forever. They will spend it surrounded by the ones they loved in life and the people who share their family name.
It’s worth noting that cremation doesn’t preclude you from being laid to rest in a cemetery. If you choose cremation, you can still have either an in-ground or above-ground burial. Your cremains can be placed in an urn and then buried in a grave. They can also be placed in a columbarium.
Columbariums are similar to mausoleums in that they are above-ground structures in cemeteries that offer an alternative burial place. Like mausoleums, there are also private and public columbariums. In the case of a columbarium, however, you will be laid to rest in an urn in a space called a niche rather than in a crypt.