On February 5, 2021, Franklin First United Methodist Church (FFUMC) held a socially distanced ground breaking ceremony for a Memorial Garden to be constructed on the church’s Mack Hatcher campus. When complete, the garden will include columbarium niches as well as facilities for in-ground burial of cremation remains. In all, more than 650 spaces will be available for interment of ashes for FFUMC members and their immediate family members.
Planning for the Memorial Garden, which began in 2017, was spear-headed by the church’s Memorial Garden Committee. The garden was designed by Nashville landscape architect firm Hodgson-Douglas. The construction contractor is Rock City Construction Company in Franklin.
Truitt Ginn, former chair of the Memorial Garden Committee, said, “The church speaks to us and ministers to us in special ways at all the significant turning points in our lives — birth, baptism, marriage, times of crisis, and sickness. It is also a sacred responsibility of the church to minister to its people at the last significant point in the cycle of life here on earth. It is fitting that those who have been part of the community of faith at Franklin First United Methodist Church have the opportunity to be buried at the church as well.”
For more information about FFUMC’s programs and ministries, visit https://franklinfumc.org/. For additional Memorial Garden information, visit https://franklinfumc.org/care/memorial-garden-columbarium/.
