Not quite sure about “embalming” but also thought that wasn’t an option except in rare cases such as immediate cremation or contagious diseases? As for vaults and liners, I had thought those too were required by law but come to find out it is more of a per cemetery decision. I have heard of people being buried at Evergreen in cloth and no casket due to finances but Oakwood I believe requires vaults? It is also a landscape issue as well. Without a casket or vault the ground can settle very quickly and become unsafe when caskets rot and cave in when someone is walking on the ground above. It has happened in the past at Evergreen where the owner has found himself hip deep in a grave. Unsafe for the public in a public access property. 

Lyle, I touched upon the arsenic embalming in my CHA Newsletter article about the Billups Funeral Home here in Richmond. Embalming came into play during the Civil War to preserve the bodies that fell on the battlefield so they could be transported back home for a proper burial and viewing by family members. But because of ground contamination they came up with the formaldehyde alternative. 

If done properly, bodies have come out of the ground 30-years after burial looking pretty much as they did when buried. Depends on the funeral home embalmer’s skills. 

Eric 

-----Original Message----- 
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Kilby 
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2014 4:26 PM 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Cemeteries and Burial question 

Martha, 

MOST interesting. I was under the impression that embalmment was required by law, regardless. Please expound on this. 

A good non-Jewish friend of mine (now dead) once said she was going to specify that she NOT be embalmed (for her own reasons), but I never asked if that was really an option. Is there a religious exemption to this law? If so, we've all been had by the funeral directors lobby! 

Craig 

On Sep 9, 2014, at 4:16 PM, Martha Katz-Hyman wrote: 

> Just a note on this from the Jewish perspective, since that seems not 
> to have come up yet in this discussion. 
> 
> Traditional Jewish burial in this country is usually in a plain 
> pine/wood coffin with no embalming except in relatively rare cases, 
> and the same with vaults, except where the water table requires. 
> Bodies are wrapped in shrouds within the coffin. In Israel, bodies are 
> laid to rest directly in the ground, wrapped in shrouds. 
> 
> These two websites might be useful to those interested in learning more. 
> https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/death.html 
> http://myjewishlearning.com/life/Life_Events/Death_and_Mourning.shtml 
> 
> Martha Katz-Hyman 
> Curator 
> Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation 
> Williamsburg, VA 
> 

  

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