Cemetery
Owned and operated by the City of Pierre, Riverside Cemetery was started in the late 1800's. At that time there were about five burials per year. Today, burials per year average around 70 - 75. To date, about 5,700 burials have been performed.
SIZE
Riverside Cemetery has 35 acres that are maintained. There are around 400 burial sites left to purchase in the original 35 acres. In August of 2001, the City of Pierre purchased 52 additional acres, of which, 25 acres will be developed into burial sites and roads. This will give the cemetery an additional 12,400 burial sites. On average, there are 40 to 50 burial sites sold per year. Adding all burial sites together and taking the average burial sites sold per year, Riverside Cemetery should last well over 100 years.
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Burials
Most burial sites measure 5 feet by 10 feet or 5.5 feet by 11 feet. Infant burial sites measure 3 feet by 4 feet. The costs of a regular burial site is $475. Cost to open and close a burial site with tax is $505.88 A disinterment with tax costs $852.
There are no outside containers or vaults required at Riverside Cemetery.
Regular burials are done at about 6 feet deep and cremations are done at 30 inches deep. Opening and closing are done at about 3 feet deep for babies and most of those are done in Babyland at Riverside Cemetery. A burial site in Babyland cost $75 and the opening and closing charge with tax is $213.00
Opening and closing a burial site for a cremation burial is $266.25 includes tax.
All tent set-ups, vaults, and lowering devices for the casket are hired by the funeral home and come from Mitchell, Aberdeen, or Blackhawk, SD.
All burial sites sold, deeds issued, billings, and record keeping are done at the cemetery office located at the cemetery.
Funeral Homes
There are two funeral homes in Pierre. The names of the funeral homes are Isburg Funeral Home on Main Street and Feigum Funeral Home on West Pleasant.