Simple Ideas to Get Involved This Memorial Day
The national holiday we now know as Memorial Day started out in the late 1860s as “Decoration Day,” a remembrance of fallen Civil War soldiers held on May...
Cemeteries
Dust to Dust: Deconstructing Decomposition
How long does it take a decomposing body to return fully to the earth? We’re talking old-school decomp, here, excluding processes like cremation in any of its forms. ...
A Brief History of Burial in the United States
Today, when families select their loved one’s format of final disposition from a menu of eco-friendly alternatives, it’s easy to forget that once upon a time burial was...
Hart Island, Nation’s Largest Public Cemetery, to Become a Public Park
First used as a public cemetery for unclaimed and unidentified bodies in 1869, New York's Hart Island, home to the remains of over one million people and the...
National Cemeteries May Limit Eligibility as They Run Out of Space
The U.S. Army is planning to limit eligibility for burials at Arlington National Cemetery as the iconic burial ground runs out of in-ground burial space. Under a new...
10 Ways Sextons and Senators Have Historically Defended Corpses and Their Rights
Wouldn’t it be nice if “final disposition” was always, well, “final?” Unfortunately, ensuring that corpses actually end up — and stay, intact or otherwise — where they are...
Different Ways Deathcare Honored Fallen Heroes on Memorial Day 2021
Another Memorial Day has come and gone. The holiday and its resulting long weekend have become the unofficial opening day of summer. For veterans and those who respect...