New options for cremated remains

Workers install a columbarium at Forest Hill Cemetery Tuesday.

Family members looking for a place to lay their loved one's cremated remains to rest now have another option.

On Tuesday, workers at Forest Hill Cemetery in Greencastle hoisted into place a columbarium, a first for the city cemetery.

Columbariums are freestanding structures that house cremated remains, much like a mausoleum holds caskets.

Cemetery Superintendent Ernie Phillips said there is a growing trend among people to have their remains cremated, which is why they wanted to add the columbariums. He said that when he started working at the cemetery in 1989, there were about two cremations a year to handle. This year there were 19.

"To my knowledge, it will be the first of its kind in Putnam County," he said of the columbarium.

Phillips is also planning the addition of a children's cemetery that will include a garden area for families to enjoy while visiting the gravesites of their loved ones.

"It'll give a private place for parents to go and sit or whatever they want to do," Phillips said. "And it's going to be something that will enhance the beauty of the cemetery."