Forest Hill's newest addition nearly complete

A Forest Hill Cemetery worker puts some finishing touches on a new memorial garden at the cemetery recently. A gazebo, Columbarium and garden are all new in the picket fence enclosure.

A new memorial garden is nearly finished at Forest Hill Cemetery. A gazebo and pavilion featuring a columbarium for cremains, garden area and picket fence have been added.

The children's burial ground, located next to the pavilion, and garden have been enclosed with a white picket fence. This is an area where children aged infant to five years of age are buried.

A fair-sized parking area has also been created, giving people attending services or visiting loved ones a place to park.

"It's about 95 percent complete now. We're just finishing the landscaping and the gazebo," said Don Black, Assistant Superintendent at Forest Hill.

"This ground could not be used for burials so we thought this would be a good use, helpful for services in bad weather and for making parking easier," he added. "It all really started with the covered bridge built last summer by inmates from the county jail."

"Ernie Phillips (superintendent of the cemetery) and the board members knew we had this piece of land and they wanted to do something beautiful as well as more useful and they came up with this idea," said Black.

The columbarium for cremains is the first in the county. The mausoleum type vault has niches for the remains of those who have been cremated. Services can be held at the pavilion in good or bad weather or it can be a place to spend a quiet moment in remembrance of a departed loved one.


For information about the cemetery or the new memorial garden call 765-653-3396.