AMHERST, N.Y. — The Town of Amherst is moving ahead with plans for a new memorial garden with a nod to Western New York history.
On Monday Amherst and the Forest Lawn Cemetery Group unveiled plans for a new cremation-only cemetery located at North Forest and Maple roads.
Amherst officials recently found mass burial plots in two parts of the Audubon Golf Course, and Forest Lawn experts found that they were once part of a pauper cemetery on the University at Buffalo South Campus. The remains were moved to their new resting place sometime before the land became town property.
Now that the Town of Amherst knows about the remains, it's working with Forest Lawn to create concepts for what the area would look like if the land was redeveloped as a memorial garden.
"Ultimately, the project will seek to create an area for further burial by way of cremation only burial in a garden setting," said Amherst Supervisor Brian Kulpa.
The proposed plan features a variety of features including a golf center, a visitor pavilion, a memorial ledger explaining the history of the site and low impact wooded trails for visitation and for scattering ashes.
The visitor pavilion would be an open-air gathering area for funeral services, tours, garden clubs and other group activities. It would also be staffed with personnel to help visitors and a Kiosk equipped with other wayfinding information about the property.