Simple pine box wanted

When my father passed away many years ago he wanted a simple pine box. At that time and place it was not available. One of the reasons for creating Cedar Brook Burial Ground Inc was that memory.

Why do Americans tend to spend so much on a casket? Well, you might want a grand display for a day or so. Some are even "more comfortable"—with an innerspring mattress and adjustable head-rest. More likely, however, low-cost caskets simply aren't on display.
Funeral Consumers Alliance

You want a simple pine box

What are the alternatives to an expensive casket?

"Be prepared for some resentment from the mortician at losing a big slice of the funeral profit if you obtain a casket elsewhere. Your right to do so is protected by federal law. There may be snide remarks about the "poor quality" of what you've purchased. If the bottom doesn't fall out, the "quality" of what you are about to bury in the ground or deliver to a crematory may be irrelevant. On the other hand, some of the hand-made or small-production caskets available may be far superior in quality to something from an automated souped-up assembly line. . . "

Note: The funeral home may NOT add a "handling fee" if you order the casket on your own.

Now we have any number of locally available, locally made, reasonably priced plain coffins. Our right to have a burial to suit our wishes is protected by law. Know your rights before you visit the funeral professional. Consumers' rights under the law

Buy locally from a casket or urn artisan.
List of coffin craftsmen

Or build your own

How to Make the Quick Coffin from Lasting Things

Have more questions?

The Funeral Consumers Alliance, FUNERAL SELF-HELP - Your Questions Answered Here

Green Burial Council is an independent, nonprofit organization founded to encourage ethical and environmentally sustainable deathcare practices and to use the burial process as a means of facilitating the acquisition, restoration and stewardship of natural areas.

We are available to answer your questions for burials at Cedar Brook Burial Ground.

Lakin's "do-it-yourself" funerals

Funeral Options

Funeral planning is less stressful and can cost less if planned ahead. Many people do not know they can plan a funeral or burial that is out of the ordinary or alternative to more familiar services or arrangements. For those reasons this information has been prepared for Consumers. This is not an endorsement of any one approach over the other but simply an offering of information that illustrates choice since we believe it is everyone's choice to live as one chooses until one dies. Why not have choices with one's funeral and burial planning as well? This tool may help you accomplish those goals that are within your power. For more information

Funerals: A Consumer's Guide

Conversion Coffins

After his father's death, Chuck Lakin, a reference librarian at Miller, wondered if there was a way a family might play a bigger part in a loved one's funeral. "My father was at home for the last six weeks of his life, we were all touching him when he died. Then the funeral director walks in, takes over, and four days later, we had a box of ashes," Lakin recalled. Dissatisfied with the mechanical nature of modern-day funerals, Lakin decided to help people make them more personal. "There are only two states that require a funeral director," he explained. "In Maine, you can keep the body at home, and deliver it to the cemetery yourself." For more information

Author: Neha Sud '05