Bernhardt Funeral Home | Ellijay, Georgia (2024)

FAQs

What is the oldest funeral home in Georgia? ›

One of the oldest and largest funeral homes in the state of Georgia, Fox & Weeks Funeral Directors began in 1882 when John H. Fox opened an undertaking establishment at 106 West Liberty Street, in what is now the Downtown Historic District.

Bynes-Royall Funeral Home is the oldest African American funeral home in the United States. The institution dates back to 1878, when Major William H. Royall was employed by a white-owned funeral home in Savannah. This funeral home, like so many at the time, did not serve the African American community.

Harris-Wheless Memorial Funeral Home & Cremation Services located at 122 West Barbee Street, Zebulon, N.C. provides a choice to all eastern region North Carolina: Wake, Johnston, Nash, and Franklin counties.

Muehlig Funeral Chapel itself has a long history. Florian Muehlig began a coffin and cabinetry business in 1852 in the upper floors of the 200 block of South Main Street. Today it is the oldest funeral parlor in the state and the oldest continuously operating business in Ann Arbor.

If the human remains are properly preserved they can be stored for longer periods of time. In most cases, so long as the remains are properly refrigerated, funeral homes can store a body for a few days to a few weeks.

In Georgia, the average cost of a traditional funeral is in the region of $4,500 (without cemetery fees). In Georgia, cremation can cost as little as $895 if you opt for a simple, direct cremation, or it can range up to around $4,000 for a cremation with a service.

In 2023, the vast majority of funeral homes in the United States were owned by small businesses and/or families, making up almost 90 percent of total ownership.

The earliest evidence of wooden coffin remains, dated at 5000 BC, was found in the Tomb 4 at Beishouling, Shaanxi. Clear evidence of a rectangular wooden coffin was found in Tomb 152 in an early Banpo site.

Quander belonged to one of the oldest African American families in the country, descending from a man named Amkwando, who had been captured in present-day Ghana and brought to the American colonies enslaved prior to 1684.

The term funeral parlor (or parlour) was often used in the name of funeral businesses, as it was already associated with end-of-life events. The first funeral parlor or funeral home, Kirk & Nice Funeral Home, actually opened in Philadelphia, Penn., in 1777, and is still in operation today.

What is the largest funeral home in the world? ›

Service Corporation International - Wikipedia.

Service Corporation International (SCI) is the largest funeral home company in the world, with a network of over 2,000 locations across the United States and Canada.

Cremation dates from at least 17,000 years ago in the archaeological record, with the Mungo Lady, the remains of a partly cremated body found at Lake Mungo, Australia.

By the mid-19th century, the newly emerging profession of businessmen-undertakers – who provided funeral and burial services – began adopting embalming methods as standard. Embalming became more common in the United States during the American Civil War, when servicemen often died far from home.