HISTORY

Although cremation is widely accepted in other parts of the world as a means of taking care of the bodies of the deceased, it has taken many years for the practice to be accepted in the United States.

Indeed, despite being employed as far back as the Bronze Age in 4000 B.C. – and widely accepted abroad in more recent times – only 1% of deaths in the United States, at the turn of the century in 1900, involved cremation.

In the past, cremation was thought to be so unusual and extreme that advocacy groups were formed to "lobby’ for its practice. Consisting mostly of doctors, scientists and social reformers, these societies began to discuss and promulgate the benefits of cremation – including health benefits as well as ecological ones: using less land for the dead and leaving more for the living.

These groups worked towards educating the public, as well as building crematories and columbariums for the commemoration and permanent placement of cremated remains. The first cremation in Massachusetts – that of the well-known suffragist and social reformer, Lucy Blackwell Stone – took place in December of 1893 at a facility now operated by Forest Hills.

Thanks largely to the efforts of early social reformers, including Lucy Blackwell Stone and other noteworthy citizens who followed her, views on cremation have changed radically over the past one hundred years. Now that the 21st century has arrived, the acceptance of cremation, in New England especially, has grown dramatically. Now more than 25% of deaths involve cremation. And, by the year 2010, it is projected that one out of every two people, or 50%, will choose to be cremated.