Discover Smith Mountain Lake
FALL 2016
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In our culture, the care of a human body after death has evolved over the years,
from rituals as simple as placing a rock on an earthen grave in the oldWest, to
the elaborate crypts and tombstones on prime real estate in all of our major
cities.
Until the mid 1800s, American families were responsible for and took care of
their own dead.
“Typically it was women who undertook death care in our culture,” says Chris
Tharp, a third generation mortician and owner of Tharp’s Funeral Home and
Crematory in the town of Bedford. “In rural America, it was usually the mother
and daughters who prepared the body for burial, which was most likely in a
private cemetery on the family’s property.”
Many times, pure necessity would dictate the type of burial. It is believed that
some 20,000 to 30,000 people died and were buried along the OregonTrail on
their way to the western frontier. In some of our most northern states with two
to three feet frost lines, the deceased had to be held by the family until spring,
when the ground softened enough so that a grave could be hand dug.
Tharp’s Funeral Home is a rambling, historic building that has graced the town of
Bedford since 1848. Our original interest in the building’s history was shelved,
in favor of the fascinating story behind the profession of undertaking, and how it
has evolved over the years, as explained by Chris.
Our Changing
DEATH
RITUAL
By Kate Hofstetter
Every person on this planet has one thing in common - we all
eventually die and leave behind a body. It is estimated that
globally 55.3 million people expire each year, some 2.5 million
in this country alone.
