Flameless Cremation at Bellefontaine Cemetery
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What Is Flameless Cremation
Flameless Cremation offers many of the environmental benefits of an eco-friendly “green” burial. The process uses water instead of flame, expending 85% less energy than traditional cremation. Using a combination of gentle water flow, ordinary salts, and gravity, flameless cremation accelerates the natural breakdown of the body creating mineral bone ash for inurnment or burial. This process mirrors what naturally happens during a green burial, but in a period of 12-14 hours instead of several years.
Final Resting Place
Deciding upon flameless cremation is not the end of the planning process. Where will your remains rest? While many people want to return cremated remains to nature, it’s important to know that scattering of ash can be harmful to the environment and may be illegal in many public places over the ground and bodies of water.
Bellefontaine offers several beautiful resting places for cremated remains, from our Hotchkiss Chapel Columbarium or Lakeside Columbarium to traditional burial or in-ground scattering amongst our serene landscaping.
Cremated remains may be interred at any site that is available for traditional burials. In addition, niches for placing urns with cremated remains are available at our open-air Lakeside Columbarium or in the simple elegance of the Hotchkiss Chapel, which provides indoor comfort in a historic setting. Bellefontaine also offers in-ground scattering in several natural settings within the cemetery. Finally, there are gardens available for cremation burial in Wildwood Valley, located near our lakes and the stream that runs between them.
Wherever you choose as your final resting place, make it a beautiful and memorable place. You deserve to be remembered for generations to come.
Our Columbaria
Columbaria offer a final resting place to memorialize flameless cremation remains. Keep your family history alive with a permanent place of memorialization.
Hotchkiss Chapel Columbarium
Designed by Eames and Young and completed in 1909, Hotchkiss Chapel was named in honor of the designer and first superintendent of Bellefontaine Cemetery, Almerin Hotchkiss. A renovation of the historic chapel was completed in 2009. A columbarium for cremated remains was added and includes 600 wooden and glass-front niches. The chapel is available for memorial services before or after an inurnment.
Prices for niches at Hotchkiss Chapel range from $3,500 to $5,700, depending on wood versus glass fronts, and whether for one or two persons. Our staff can assist you in selecting cremation urns for placement in the niche.
Lakeside Columbarium in Wildwood Valley
Responding to the public’s increasing preference for cremation, Bellefontaine established its second cremains offering: Lakeside Columbarium. The Columbarium, set between Cascade and Cypress Lakes in Wildwood Valley, has a fountain, flowing pools, and an arbor with benches for contemplation. Niches are on the outside walls, overlooking the lakes, stream, and surrounding landscape. Prices for niches at Lakeside are $4,000 for a single right of inurnment, and $5,200 for two.
The Gardens in Wildwood Valley
Our gardens will provide a unique memorialization option for those opting for cremation burial among the gardens in Wildwood Valley. The beauty of the gardens is that an individual’s remains are actually becoming a part of the garden. There are no urns, and the remains are buried amongst the plants. Cremation burial spaces in Wildwood Valley Gardens begin at $4,000 for a single right of inurnment, and $5,200 for two.
Other Cremation Options
While aboveground scattering is not permitted in most areas throughout the cemetery, you may choose to in-ground scatter ashes in place of an urn burial in most locations throughout the cemetery.