That was true, at least until the Civil War era. Then a desire to preserve bodies led to a new way of dealing with the dead: ...

At these new green cemeteries, your body will turn into a tree The startup Transcend is rethinking cemeteries as forests, and giving people a more eco-friendly afterlife option.

With traditional burial as the status quo ... Morris said, “I hear of people wanting to become a tree after they’re gone, or to become a flower.” “From the families that we talk to ...