Growth of Services:
For the early years of the Cemetery the only services available were digging graves and making internments. With the addition of a Superintendent, the cemetery undertook the care of grass and digging foundations for memorial stones. As time progressed other services were added such as cremation services in 1959, free chapel use became available, planting shrubs and flowers, cleaning memorial stones, etc. Before the advent of modern machines, winter interments were a major problem as some winters produced over three feet of frost in the ground. A receiving Tomb was erected in 1865 at a cost of $2,000 for the temporary storage of remains until the spring thaws enabled earth interments to be made. The Tomb was no longer necessary with the development of machines to break through the frozen ground. In 1959 the Receiving Tomb was converted to the county’s only Crematory and was in continuous use from 1959 until 2002. In November of 2002 a new crematory was put online after it was determined that the old crematory was going to require numerous major repairs and upgrades.
This new crematory was added onto the Martin Memorial Chapel to provide a more complete crematory service. The 1900 chapel, which had been unused for fifty years, needed interior and exterior renovations before it could be utilized once again as a functioning facility. The chapel is now able to offer services for funerals, memorial services, cremation services and weddings. The chapel on one occasion was used for a dinner party and magic show for the benefit of the Colonial Theatre.
Upkeep and services all have a cost. These costs are covered by lot sales, interments, cremations, foundation, monument and lawn marker preparation, cleaning of monuments, over-capacity charges, vault sales, after hour services, floral decorations were funded by a Trust account and income from our Perpetual Care Fund.
The Perpetual Care Fund was set up in 1895 and was set up to help with the financial needs of the Cemetery. Most lots purchased since 1895 have included an amount in the cost of the lot that will be deposited in this endowment account.