That’s a wonderful place to begin. Most people have never heard the word columbarium until they suddenly need one.

The word itself can be confusing. Is columbarium singular or plural? Technically, columbarium is singular, and columbaria is plural, although today many people simply say “columbariums.” Don’t worry about getting it right. What matters is understanding what it is. Think of a columbarium as an apartment building, and the niches as the individual apartments. Each niche is a permanent resting place for one or more urns containing cremated remains. At Walker Chapel, our columbarium is built into a massive gravity stone wall. Behind each engraved granite faceplate is a protected niche. Our companion niches are designed for two urns, while our family niches can hold four to six urns, depending on the size of the urns. We built the columbarium to endure for generations—perhaps even a thousand years—but its purpose is far more important than the stone itself.

It provides a permanent place where children, grandchildren, and generations yet unborn can return to remember, celebrate, and keep family stories alive.