Digging going on now at Chattanooga National Cemetery will add space and save time for burials 20 years from now, officials said.
Cemetery Director Paul Martin said 1,280 crypts will be installed in the coming months, part of a decade-long process to maximize space at the site.
Each concrete crypt — 3 feet long and 7 feet, 8 inches wide — is buried in a plot, then two feet of dirt covers the space. When the space is needed, cemetery caretakers simply remove the dirt and open the crypt to place the casket, he said.
“The biggest thing is saving time,” Mr. Martin said. “It’s been quite effective.”
All new national cemeteries and new spaces at older cemeteries use the crypts for that reason, he said.
Normally, when a plot is dug for a burial, caretakers cannot dig near another fresh grave. Sometimes the dirt walls can collapse if they haven’t had time to settle, he said, but with the crypts that isn’t a problem.
Work to erect a columbarium — an area for cremated remains — near the cemetery’s pond still is a few months away, he said.
Mr. Martin said the site initially will house between 1,200 and 1,600 niches for cremated remains, which also saves space elsewhere in the 120-acre cemetery.
Roughly 8 to 10 percent of burials each year are cremations, he said. At the current rate, the columbarium has space for at least a dozen years or more.
Though land expansion remained difficult, one local representative said he’s still working to grow the land size of the site. U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., is the ranking member of the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs subcommittee in the House and has promoted expansion at the Chattanooga cemetery.
“I am continuing to push for the cemetery’s expansion to guarantee that veterans who are serving our country today will have the option of burial in Southeast Tennessee many years from now,” he said.
The changes have lengthened the active use of the cemetery by more than 15 years, Mr. Martin said. When he took over the cemetery a few years ago, the closing date was set at 2015, he said, but the changes push that date beyond 2030.
Continue reading by following these links to related stories: