Nicola Nicosia looks through the newer section of Riverside Cemetery in Saugus. File Photo
No one wants to think about cemeteries unless they have to plan or attend a funeral or they are in the stone carving business. But the growing need for additional cemetery space is becoming a major concern for communities including Saugus, Nahant and Lynn.
Nahant is several years away from worrying about running out of space in Greenlawn Cemetery. But the island town’s residents know they are limited when it comes to available land and they know they need to eventually include a cemetery expansion into a community with limited amount of space.
Cemetery space concerns are more pressing in Saugus where Riverside Cemetery has fewer than 100 remaining plots available. The town is looking at expansion options and restrictions on adjoining property as well as potential conservation concerns dictate how additional space will be found in Riverside.
Burial in past centuries was a private matter or a church concern and Lynn and other North Shore communities with origins in the 17th century are dotted with old grave lots and small historic cemeteries. With final resting places now the responsibility of private or public cemeteries, burial space has become a concern involving public officials.
Lynn wants to build a new middle school off Parkland Avenue and Pine Grove Cemetery Commission officials are sure to attend a September public hearing on the middle school proposal. They will raise concerns about the need for future cemetery space and the need to make Pine Grove a priority for future Parkland Avenue land use.
Land is at a premium in Lynn and it will be interesting to see how city officials balance Pine Grove’s future space needs against the more immediate need to set aside land for a new middle school.
Cemeteries are not simply a final resting place for the dead. They are a place to mourn and remember the living. They provide a strong connection to family history and they are hallowed ground highlighted on Memorial Day as the burial places of veterans.
Concerns steeped in emotion as well as history must be weighed as part of any plans to expand cemeteries or provide more burial space. It remains to be seen if private cemeteries can provide space to expand municipal burial grounds. It is also unclear how a burial space shortage that is sure to grow and not diminish will change cemetery layout and restrictions on plots and grave markers.