Could You Stand to be Buried This Way?

Are you looking for a unique way to be buried with minimal impact on the environment and pocketbook? A new cemetery in Australia may just have the solution for you!

A company in Victoria, Australia has gotten approval to open a new cemetery at Darlington, which lies about 125 miles southwest of the Victorian capital Melbourne. The new cemetery, which is a first of its kind in Australia, will offer burials with minimal impact to the environment. The new residents of the cemetery will be buried standing up in biodegradable body bags without caskets or headstones. The land will continue to be used as grazing land to further lessen the environmental impact.

The no-fuss burial option is as easy on the wallet as it is on the land. Burials will cost A$1000, which is approximately US$780.

Bodies will be stored in a Melbourne morgue and relocated to the cemetery in groups of 15 to help keep costs to a minimum. With no ongoing costs for upkeep, the “green” burial option is much less expensive than a traditional burial or cremation.

Loved ones will still be able to identify the burial plots of the deceased via a chart on the fence, which tells where each resident is buried. The new cemetery is less expensive and more environmentally sound than traditional burials.

Arlington National Cemetery

Location: Northern Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

Age: Established in 1864.

Size: Large - At 612 acres, Arlington is the second largest cemetery in the United States. Over 260,000 people are buried at Arlington Cemetery.

Vacancies: Yes, but strict guidelines limit who may be buried there.

History: Arlington National Cemetery is located on land that once belonged to John Parke Custis, Martha Washington's son. Robert E. Lee also lived on the land before it became a cemetery. It was established as a military cemetery in 1864 and is now a National Monument and the final resting place for many of America's bravest soldiers, leaders and their families. The Department of the Army now maintains the cemetery.

Famous Citizens: William Howard Taft, Former U.S. President
John F. Kennedy, Former U.S. President
Glenn Miller, Famous Band Leader
Joe Louis, Prizefighter
Virgil (Gus) Grissom, Astronaut{br] Robert Peary, Explorer
Matthew Henson, Explorer
Medgar Evers, Civil Rights Leader
Earl Warren, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Dashiell Hammett, Mystery Writer
The remains of the seven Space Shuttle Challenger crewmembers.

Items of Interest: Tombs of the Unknown Soldiers, the Confederate Monument, the Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial, and the Custis-Lee mansion.

Contact: Memorial Drive
Arlington, VA 22211
Phone: (703) 607-8585

Website: www.arlingtoncemetery.org

Cemetery Profile: Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery

Location: St. Louis, Missouri

Age: Established in 1866

Size: 331 Acres
Vacancies: Yes

History: Jefferson Barracks was the army's first permanent base west of the Mississippi River and remains one of the National Cemetery Administrations oldest sites. There are graves that date from the Civil War to WWII. It became an official national cemetery in 1866. In 1869 the recovered remains of 10,200 soldiers previously buried elsewhere were moved to Jefferson Barracks, causing tremendous growth. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Famous Citizens: Several notable Medal of Honor Burials
Soldiers from several wars

1,140 Confederate Soldiers

Samuel Marion Dennis, founder of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Arkansas

Items of Interest: The Carillon Bell Tower, U.S. Submarine Veteran’s Memorial, Memorial dedicated to the memory of Merchant Marine Seamen and Navy Armed Guard, Blue Star Memorial Marker, The Memorial Chapel, a memorial for women who aided during the civil war, The Fort Bellefontaine Monument, and several other memorials for unknowns and war heros.

Contact: 2900 Sheridan Road
St. Louis, MO 63125
Phone: (314) 260-8691 or 260-8692

Website: http://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/jeffersonbarracks.asp

Scottish Man Sells Mom's Ashes on eBay

Glen Beaton of Inverness, Scotland tried to auction his deceased mother's ashes on eBay. He turned to the popular auction web site in an attempt to fulfill his mother's last wish. Mr. Beaton was trying to use the Internet as a vehicle to get his mother's remains scattered in every part of the world. His mother Margaret was an avid traveller. Glen had hoped to get bidders from three counties that his mother never got to travel to in life - Australia, the United States and New Zealand.

He was charging a penny for a part of his mother's cremains, which he pledged to return to any winning bidders. eBay rules stipulate that an auction must have a starting bid of at least a penny. According to an article on the Scottish news site scottsman.com he was not trying to profit off his mother's passing.

He got a couple of bidders before eBay pulled the auction off of the site citing a rule that no human remains may be sold on the web site.

Last Updated: 02/18/2006