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Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
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Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!

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Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
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Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
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West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.

Syndicate

Cemetery never takes a day off

Written by DeadGirl
Monday, 03 July 2006
by Matt McFarland Pentagram staff writer Whether it's the Christmas season or a national holiday Arlington National Cemetery never take a day off. "Unlike other places where they can take training holidays or commanders can shut down for one week or another, we're still performing our mission every day," said Superintendent Jack Metzler. Between 4 and 5 million people visitor a year, each spending about two hours. Aside from serving as one of the area's foremost tourist destinations, the staff handles 30 burials a day and tries to make each family feel like their loved one is the only person being buried. The waiting period to be interred in the cemetery varies depending on the service member's rank, branch of service, religious preference, and whether they would like to have a service or go directly to the gravesite. The cemetery is limited to four chapel services a day and there is a shortage of priests. The staff can only accommodate one full-honor funeral service every two hours for each branch of service. Typically four funerals are done at the Old Post Chapel per day and sometimes up to six, the rest go straight to the grave. "Our hardest funeral to do right now is an officer who is Catholic, who is asking for a full-honor, use a military priest and the Old Post Chapel for a Mass," said Metzler. Metzler said he'd like to be able to have all service members buried in a week. "The challenge we have is that people want to have all of the honors that we can provide at the cemetery based upon their rank so in order to do that, we have to wait till they're available," said Metzler. "It's fitting that Arlington National Cemetery is one of our closest partners. We both do a lot with limited resources," said Garrison Commander Col. Thomas A. Allmon Metzler calls the internment crew an unsung hero. "I look at what they do everyday in all types of weather conditions, they're out there to ensure that every burial takes place with dignity and has that personal touch," said Metzler. Metzler is working to expand the life of the cemetery for the next 100 years. Currently there is only space through 2060, based on projects of about 6,000 burials per year. "I'm sure there is a finite amount of land we'll be able to use to expand, but I also think as the land is completely exhausted that eligibility will be looked at again," said Metzler. Metzler's "Millennium Project" acquired the picnic area on Fort Myer, property from the National Parks Service and removed a warehouse on the cemetery. In 2010 the Navy Annex will be demolished which will give the cemetery 36 acres of new land. Utilities running parallel to Eisenhower Drive will be moved underneath the road to create more room for burials. Currently remains cannot be buried alongside the road because of the utilities. One hundred government employees handle interment applications, digging graves, filling graves, setting up funerals and maintaining the grounds. Thirty-four contracts with 50-125 employees handle mowing, trimming, window washing, and pest control on the 612 acres. *Arlington National Cemetery* Funerals per day: 30 Burials: 300,000 Chaplains: 7 Visitors per year: 4-5 million http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/11_01/local_news/42285-1.html

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries

Taphophilia Facts

According to Islamic tradition, the corpse of a Muslim is not to be left alone between death and burial.

Taphophiles Speak

Have you decided on eternal repose?

	earthen burial
	entombment
	cremation
	donation to science
	cyrogenically frozen
	you mean I'm still alive?

Quote Repository

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Henry David Thoreau, 1854