But in less than two months, two crematoriums have opened for business in Salisbury — Evergreen Cremation Services, on Industrial Avenue near Food Lion’s corporate headquarters, and a second operated by Summersett Funeral Home on West Innes Street.

Tom Baucom, Steve Staton and John Greene own Evergreen, which began operating on May 1.

“We just wanted to provide people with a choice,” Staton said. “There are so many different ideas and family needs that we are trying to meet.”

Staton also is co-owner of Powles Funeral Home in Rockwell, Baucom still works at Powles and Greene has funeral home experience as well. But all three take great pains to say that the cremation service, located in a small, nondescript building just off Jake Alexander Boulevard, is not associated with Powles or any funeral home. They don’t want people to think they must go through a funeral home for cremation services.

“The reason more and more people are looking at cremation is because of the significant difference in cost,” Staton said.

The average funeral starts at $8,000, but crematoriums, with less overhead, can offer services about 20 percent cheaper, Staton said.

As Staton explained, the “traditional” funeral home requires several automobiles and larger parking area. Plus, they must have the facilities for embalming bodies and generally more staff to handle funerals.

The crematorium, on the other hand, is practical and economical, Staton said. Evergreen’s building is less than a quarter the size of the average funeral home and operates with a much smaller staff. “Since we do everything here, including the memorial services, a large amount of the cost is reduced,” Staton said.

The N.C. Board of Mortuary Science regulates crematoriums and sets many guidelines. For example, Evergreen may not cremate a body for at least 24 hours and without a signed death certificate from the medical examiner. For one thing, cremation eliminates any trace of DNA, and the waiting period allows for any final tests.

The body also must be burned in a cremation casket, though a family has many choices, from a regular wooden casket to the minimum state requirement, which is equivalent to a cardboard box.

A family’s most significant decision with cremation is most likely the urn they pick. Urns begin at $126 and come in every shape, size and color. According to Baucom, the number one choice among people who make their cremation arrangements in advance is a golf bag urn. Oddly enough, families that make arrangements at the time of a person’s death rarely choose the golf bag style.

For larger families which request several urns, Evergreen offers “mini-keepsakes” — with some of the loved one’s ashes — that can be worn as a necklace or bracelet charm. “The possibilities are endless,” Greene said. “A family can choose a paperweight, a pendant, a jewelry box or the traditional style urn.”

And the owners emphasize that whatever urn or keepsake a family chooses will be completely sealed.

Evergreen is certified to pick up and handle the body from the beginning of the process to the end. They hold the body in a cooling chamber during the 24-hour waiting period. The cooler stays at 40 degrees and can hold nine bodies.

The three owners stress the steps the service takes to preserve the identity of the remains. Each body gets an identification number. “This number will never be duplicated and stays with the body forever,” Baucom said. “It is given to the family along with the cremains.”

The cremation process takes two to three hours, and the temperature in the natural gas-fired chamber — known in the industry as a retort — reaches 1,650 degrees. A monitor tracks any variation in temperature to assure efficient operation of the machine.

People often ask about crematoriums polluting the air, but Evergreen’s owners say several devices watch for problems. An opacity monitor, for example, sends a beam across the exhaust vent, and if any particles break the beam, the chamber automatically shuts off.

“The number one objective of the machine is cremation, the second is to be pollution free,” Greene said.

The N.C. Division of Air Quality doesn’t require crematoriums to have a license because they are pollution free, Greene said. “Once you reach a certain temperature of 1,100 to 1,200 degrees, there is no odor from the machine, which releases only clear, heat vapors, he added.

“The idea is the body should cremate itself,” Greene said. “The chamber heats everything to the point where all water is evaporated,” and the body essentially turns to dust.

Even if a family chooses cremation, Evergreen can still arrange an earthen burial. “Some people prefer to be buried after cremation,” Staton said. “There is also an option to have the ashes placed in a column mausoleum.”