Planning for the Dead

As cemetaries all over the U.S. are running out of burial spaces, planners are faced with a sensitive challenge.

1 minute read

October 29, 2003, 11:00 AM PST

"Time is running out for people who want to be buried in Lake Zurich Cemetery. Within a few years, officials say, there will be no vacancy in the 2-acre graveyard where hundreds of village residents have been laid to rest since 1901....The graveyard's predicament is increasingly common among cemeteries across Illinois and nationwide, officials said....'Ultimately, all cemeteries--including the largest in the world--are going to run out of space'....Of the more than 100,000 cemeteries in the United States...half no longer sell grave space or permit burials....To save space, some cemeteries have started selling plots where the dead will be buried on top of each other, two or three coffins deep....An increase in cremations has alleviated some of the space problems..."

Thanks to Connie Chung

Read the full story: Resting places running low at cemetery

Tuesday, October 28, 2003 in The Chicago Tribune

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