302. High Amana Cemetery

You are at the gate to the cemetery.

Current Operation of the building: Cemetery

Historic Significance: Each village has its own cemetery. In the Amana faith, it is believed all people are equal, no one more important than another. This belief literally was carried to the grave as every church member received the same burial. A headstone made of cement, with their age at death, date of their death, and their name, a plain wooden casket, and a church funeral. The cemeteries look a little like a military cemetery as they are done in an orderly fashion. Pines were frequently planted in and around cemeteries because they keep their leaves all winter and were regarded as religiously symbolic of the eternal life promised through Christ.  If you look closely you’ll notice that there are no family plots. Since we believe that we are all part of a larger family church the members are buried in the order in which they pass away. Each village has its own cemetery and members are buried in the village that they lived in.

An interesting fact of the High Amana Cemetery is that it sits at the far end of what the village residents call “Cradle to Grave Street”. At the other end of the street, on the far west side of the village, sits the school building for the village.