Immaculate Heart Of Mary Catholic Cemetery - Linwood, Pennsylvania

Marble veterans markers from the 1950s era, being weathered away by time. Immaculate Heart Of Mary Cemetery, Linwood, Pennsylvania.

Located at:

1701 Market Street
Linwood, Pennsylvania

Mailing address:

P. O. Box 1363
Linwood, PA 19061

Phone: 610-497-1315

Entrance to Immaculate Heart Of Mary Cemetery, Linwood, PA.

About:

They haven't sold any burial plots here since 2003, and the cemetery does appear to be nearing capacity. Though there is a section that is wide open. They might one day offer burial lots there.

This cemetery has a number of issues:

Terrain problems. Parts of the cemetery tend to get soggier than normal. This is why they stopped selling new burial lots.
This cemetery was run by Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Chester until 1993, when they closed. At that point the Archdiocese Of Philadelphia took over management of the cemetery. Then StoneMor Partners stepped in and took over the day-to-day operations of 12 cemeteries owned by the Archdiocese in a controversial multi-million dollar, multi-decade lease deal.

StoneMor is a for-profit publicly traded company. The staff at Immaculate Heart Cemetery was reduced. I have the impression it is much more difficult for this cemetery to get funding for things like repaving of cemetery roadways—because of the for-profit managers at StoneMor. That's a guess, but probably accurate.

Reduced staffing means it takes longer for things to get done here. And the upkeep may not be at the level that it should be. (This staff also cares for the Saint Michael's Cemetery in Chester.)
While SS Peter and Paul Cemetery and Holy Cross Cemetery already have all of their foundations in, Immaculate Heart is not set up this way. So it can take longer for a foundation to be put in. Management of the cemetery likes to wait until a bunch of foundations are needed, then the cement is ordered. It could take 6 months for a foundation to be put in at Immaculate Heart. So be prepared to wait longer than usual to see gravestones installed here.

If a heavy rain arrives, this can delay things again.

Pricing information as of October 2018:

The foundation fee for a 2 foot by 1 foot base or flat marker is $336. This is the minimum foundation fee. The larger the base, the higher the fee. Foundations are required at nearly all cemeteries to prevent stones from leaning.

Inscription permit fees are $95.

These fees are standard at all of the Archdiocese/StonMor cemeteries.

A cemetery customer told me it cost $1900 to open a grave here. (Autumn 2018.)