Lakewood Cemetery — Attraction in Minneapolis

I gave birth to my baby at 14weeks gestation. We got to hold him before the hospital took him away. A couple hours after the miscarriage they told us we needed to choose funeral arrangements. They said we could go with Lakewood and they would take care of everything and that he would be in a plot with other babies in a similar situation. Out of grief and overwhelm we chose that option. Yesterday was my sons would be birthday. I called and asked where the babies resting place is from that hospital. We were led to believe it’d be someplace like a huge urn and a tribute to lost babies. I was told when I called that they dig up dirt around the “baby land” statue and dump the babies ashes in the dirt. They have been doing this for years. They dig us babies ashes to pour more ashes in. You would never desecrate an old person’s grave and pour more people on top of them. I’m not sure if this is a money proposition as it is with a big hospital but if anyone is looking into this place for their angel baby DONT DO IT. Update: after a year and a half of pursuing answers I was finally told what happened to my child’s ashes. After being told they “dumped the ashes” in the ground near the monument the first time, then to the response of this review saying they “bury” the ashes to this new information from a patient care provider who has been advocating for me. They scatter the babies ashes near the monument. Not buried in a plot like I was told. They said they didn’t know “exactly” where the babies ashes were because of which “batch” my “fetus” was in. I was lied to about this establishment on 3 seperate occasions. I stand with my original review, DO NOT have your child laid to rest here. The misinformation spread here was disgusting. As a bereaved mother I’m sicker by how they treated my child’s remains and so many others without true parental knowledge. This is not something a non for profit should be proud of. This...

I want to say that this cemetery is beautiful and well kept. The chapel is absolutely stunning. The issue I have is with the way the reception following the service was handled. My dear mother spent many hours planning the service for our loved one. She reached out to Lakewood staff about the area the reception would be held. She even took time out of her day to come tour. She set up a date with the staff and when she came in, there was a grieving family using the space for their reception. Not only was that uncomfortable, it was unacceptable and disrespectful to the grieving family. My mom was unable to see the space and ask questions about what would be made available. She attempted to reach out to the staff several times to get these questions answered several weeks prior. She did not get clear answers and this was reflected the day we buried our loved one. It was not clear on where the reception would be held and our guests were wandering around looking for it. When we got to the luncheon, there were supposed to be 10 tables. Not only was there not enough room for 10 tables, they were only 8. Several guests had to wait until people were done eating and got up. There were no places to set the flowers or pictures. The tech guy did not know how to work the sound system and gave up. Thankfully my husband was able to fix the sound issue for the picture DVD and I was able to dig around and find an easel to place the picture of our loved one on. Very disappointed that we had to deal with this added stress and it took away from our ability to greet and spend time...

If I could give Lakewood a rating equivalent to all the stars in the sky, I would. My mother was laid to rest here on June 1 after she lost her battle with Covid 19. She had a hard life so I’m glad that she’ll rest in these beautiful, peaceful grounds for eternity. I love that Lakewood has events, remembrances and other services for the living to continue to honor and remember those that they’ve lost.

When I purchased my mother’s plot last year, Kelly Leahy was simply amazing! She was so patient, knowledgeable and knew even more about the burial rules of my culture than I did. She made the process really easy and smooth. When I lost my mother this year and had questions about my mother’s burial because of the pandemic, Kelly was so supportive and responsive. The funeral home that was preparing my mom for burial was really sketchy and unresponsive so Kelly even provided her expertise in this area because I needed a second opinion. Words cannot express my gratitude for everything she did! I also dealt with Chris and a lovely lady whose name I forgot to ask for but suffice it to say, they were both wonderful. It gives me great peace of mind knowing that these caring and extraordinary people work here as I don’t live nearby. Lakewood is impressive...