The Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 350 Provinceline Road, Wrightstown, N.J., was recently awarded a grant of $1.6 million to expand and improve its facilities.

The money will be used to provide the cemetery with a 1,680-niche columbarium and to develop a section for almost 1,500 garden niches for in-ground burial of cremated remains.

A columbarium is a structure of many sealed recesses that are the final resting places for those who have chosen cremation.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the cremation rate has grown to 18 percent in recent years. The addition of a columbarium will improve the level of service.

Dedicated in 1986, the Doyle cemetery is New Jersey's first state-operated veterans' cemetery. The 234-acre cemetery provides nearly 2,500 burials each year, making it one of the 15 busiest veterans cemeteries in the country.

The Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Cemetery office is open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The office is closed on weekends and federal holidays. The public may visit the cemetery grounds every day of the year from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, call 609-758-7250.