Why do some cemeteries have a separate area for children and infants?

I would think it’s because of the plot size (the size of the hole that the coffin goes into). Which, is more about maximizing the land available ..as you stated. I’m not sure it’s callous though. Cemeteries take up a lot of space ..and they keep getting bigger.

I’m not an expert; it’s just my humble opinion.

This is all under the presumption that you are speaking of a regular (modern) public cemetery.

I wonder if the infants were abandoned and later died, or the family could not afford to purchase a casket and plot. Nowadays, at least in some areas, indigent people are cremated if there is no family available to take care of the cost.

I’ve never seen that @Nimis. I love cemeteries. Where have you seen children separated and do you have any photos of the headstones? What decade are the deceased babies?

I’ve never seen this. The only cemetery experience I have indicates families are buried in clumps,not by age.

Nearly all the cemeteries I’ve been to have had a separate area for babies and young children. These are large cemeteries in urban areas. A few smaller cemeteries have had the children mixed in with everyone else.

I think it is a space issue.

It’s a great question! Unfortunately I have never seen that I would also like to know why. Where my husband is buried it’s with all of the family, my dad and so on. When they approached us about the plot it was first come first serve, but they recommend it to the living family of the buried first if you say no and all the plots close to your family get taken then they give you something else. So maybe your question is because of space. It could also be designated of sorts. I think cemeteries can write their own rules it’s like condo’s of the dead.

If a family does not actually have a traditional multi-generational plot then people are buried as spaces are available. One must buy a a grave. Young couples do not get around to doing this because they feel immortal and because there are so many things to spend money on that have to do with living. Often adjoining graves are not bought until a spouse dies, and 2 graves are bought at the same time.

When a young child dies, often the family has made no arrangements for family burial of any kind. Therefore, the child’s grave is purchased separately. It may be offered as less expensive in a children’s cemetery area and parents who are financially strapped may find that an incentive. It may also be offered as a soothing place to go visit the child—among other children—a heavenly nursery so to speak.

And it saves the cemetery space [a finite resource] and money to encourage sale of these smaller plots.

That is interesting. I have also never seen this, but it makes me curious!

Near where I live there is a cemetery with a space like that for infants that have been abandoned and then died. A local woman started the program where she gives the babies a name and a very nice funeral.

The cemeteries near us that have it usually have graves from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in them. Families with young children often cannot afford family plots. In an age where it was common for 3 of your 5 children to die before their 5th birthday of childhood illnesses, burying children in children’s sections often meant the difference between being able to afford a marker or not.

I’ve never seen that….

Most cemeteries started with family plots and church cemeteries. Families usually attended the same church and would be buried in the same area. Even the “company” owned cemeteries I’ve encountered still had families in the same general areas. It is just the nature of how the land is divided.

I know a handful of cemeteries where even today, you buy a plot for a nominal fee that includes mowing and repairs in the graveyard. Most children I’ve seen buried, including two of my own, are buried in family plots.

I don’t suppose it matters really where they are buried, as long as I know where they are. Right?

When a friend of mine lost their baby at 19 days old they were given the option of buying a famly plot which would cost them alot or a small little plot for an infant which didn’t cost much. If you don’t have much money and just starting out and not expecting a newborn baby to die at 19 days old you may there are some families that choose the option of selecting the plot in the children and infants area where it doesn’t cost very much to bury the baby. They were lucky and bought on credit the family plot but not so many can be buried next to their baby when its their time to go.

That just seems sad to me @creative1.

@bkcunningham Walk through the baby section sometime and look at the dates on the stones there are current dates as well as old dates. (some don’t have stones due to cost to family) Its very sad but its true that when your in your early 20’s your not expecting you little one or yourself to die so your not going out buying burial plots at that time in your life. Your bearly making ends meet, my friends were lucky they had their 1st child later in life in their 30’s so they were able to get a family plot. They went on the have another little girl who was healthly and is now 7 yrs old.

—That was my original comment here @creative1. Where exactly is “the baby section.” I haven’t seen one nor heard about one either. @BarnacleBill said some place near him had babies buried in a separate area of the graveyard who were born and died in the ” late 1800’s and early 1900’s.”

Where do you live @BarnacleBill? I wonder what the cost of a plot was back then? I would imagine I’d start my own graveyard if I’d would have been challenged with giving up my dead to strangers for money in a graveyard of their own. When did commercial cemeteries and the more commercial side of burying your own dead take off.

I believe it depends on the cemetary, if you ask the caretaker I am sure they can guide you to the area. I am originally from MA and I know they varied depending on what cemetary you went to, but the plot size is alot smaller you can tell because the headstones are alot closer together. Usually the headstones are smaller and tend to lie on the ground of the plot but some do stand still not a full head stone size. But your best bet in finding it in your local cemetary is asking at the caretakers office.

I don’t know why but my immediate thought was the same as @anartist. Unless there is a family plot in existence, most young people (who are having children) do not have their own burial site sorted out. So when a child dies, there is no special, specific place to bury them in. Sad question, but very interesting.

@bkcunningham I don’t remember the particular ones that I’ve been to. I love cemeteries too, so I’ve been to many. Generally, I find them to be peaceful—except these areas. They make me deeply sad.

I remember the first time I saw one. I was wandering around a particularly large and sprawling cemetery when some motion caught my eye. In the distance, there was a hill filled with pinwheels and a gust of wind had set them all spinning. It was startling to see so much motion in a cemetery. As I got closer, I could see that the entire hillside was littered with toys and stuffed animals. The realization of where I was-what it was-just sent me bawling. Each gust of wind just made me cry harder.

The image of those pinwheels spinning on the hill haunted me for weeks. They might have been meant to be cheerful, but I can’t think of anything more sorrowful.

@anartist Great, but sad answer.

@kitkat25 Thanks for a little bit of light in an otherwise depressing thread.

@bkcunningham I’m sorry for your loss. Parents should never have to bury their own children.

@bcunningham, I am in the Cincinnati area, and have seen it at the older cemeteries here and in Louisville. Not so much the newer ones. Cemeteries were formed as corporations as early as the mid-1800s (probably before that) and had a board of directors. Spring Grove Cave Hill in Louisville started around the same time, but there were earlier city burying grounds. Cholera was a major source of death in those days, due to poor sanitation and water quality. If you lived in the city, many churches did not have churchyards.

I know in Kentucky, if you have farm acrage, you can pay $1, and have your deed modified to include a family cemetery on the property. It has to be surveyed and added to the plat of the property.

I have no idea what plots cost back in the 1800’s; that’s an interesting question.

I used to help maintain two cemeteries when I was in high school. One of the two I worked at had a children’s area, most of the children buried there were either stillborn or less than a week old. Young parents that did not know how many kids they were going to have often didn’t know how big of a family plot to reserve. If you were a member of the church you got the next available plot free.
You could purchase a plot if you wanted to be buried next to your spouse.

The church in question considered all the members brothers and sisters, so you were essentially buried with family regardless of who had the plot next to you.

My family had chosen this option bc it was a happier thought for us. Its an unmarked plot with st. Teresa watching over them. It was a “playground” all the kids would have each other, unlike if we buried her in our plot. Nobody has been buried yet and it’s been 43 yrs later we haven’t needed to use it. For us, it was not cold being with other kids. She would have been alone all these years. I’m thankful for it.