Nearly 7,000 Mainers opted for cremation last year, making that kind of end-of-life choice the clear favorite over traditional coffin burial. About 4,000 people statewide were buried in 2006.

That's a massive shift from just a generation ago, when almost everyone who died underwent an old-fashioned casket burial. With cremation, some choose a grave marker and permanent storage of remains; others do not.

But one thing's for sure, undertakers now offer cremation services and make sure that fact is included in their name and advertising.

Twenty years ago, according to the Office of Data, Research and Vital Statistics, cremation accounted for some 20 percent of the disposal of the dead. Last year, that figure had reached well over 50 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of those choosing traditional casket burial has dropped from around 80 percent in 1987, to less than 35 percent in 2006. These changes appear to be fueled by the low cost of cremation, according to undertakers. It can be one-tenth the cost of a coffin burial, they said.

Cremation is a pretty straightforward process: With or without prior ceremony, the corpse is placed in a very hot oven until all that's left are bones. It's actually an ancient practice, but for generations religious customs have disallowed cremation, although it has never been illegal under Maine law.

Chuck Kincer, who operates Kincer Funeral Home in Richmond with his wife, Andrea, said cremation is on the rise and "the number one reason is cost." You can have a complete cremation package for less than $1,000, while a customary casket burial starts at $1,000. The national average for casket burials is $7,000 to $8,000, and spending $10,000 on a burial is not uncommon, he said.

Although no law requires a vault, many cemeteries require that coffins, no matter how substantial, be inside a larger cement box, called a vault. Then there is the cost of embalming, where fluids are replaced to preserve the body for viewing. Kincer said people should realize this procedure, costing $250-$400, is in many cases unnecessary.

It is always unnecessary with cremation, he said.

"It's a sensible way to go," said Lloyd Hodgkins of Jefferson, a retired pilot who likes to restore antique tractors. He was all set with cremation, he said, but then changed his mind and now plans to be buried in a family plot at his farm, where his parents and baby brother are buried. "I already have my stone up there with my birth date on it."

"I think I'll go the old-fashioned way," said Hodgkins, now in his mid-70s. Cremation or coffin burial, he said, there's one thing in life that's certain: "When it's over, it's over."

Lynn Roberts Reed, a sixth-generation undertaker, said she believes customers are not just concerned with lower prices. She said there is a cultural shift, and people are no longer bound by tradition when it comes to dealing with disposal of the dead. She said people are being more creative, and part of that freedom comes from the relaxing of religious restrictions.

The Catholic Church in particular has changed its views on cremation, she said, although devout Catholics may still believe in keeping "the body whole for the Resurrection."

Reed said cremation's popularity has risen rapidly in the past 10 years, and she sees no reason why it would slow down.

An intriguing new development, she said, is a plan to turn a crematorium into a promatorium, where corpses will be freeze-dried and then vibrated, causing them to turn into powder. The powder is buried in a biodegradable box, so that the whole thing becomes compost within a year. The proposal by the Swedish town of Jankoping is touted as environmentally green, and people will be encouraged to plant a tree on the burial spot.

An article in the British newspaper the Telegraph said Swedish biologist Susanne Wiigh-Masak, who is pioneering the freeze-dry method, said that "mulching was nature's original plan for us, and that's what used to happen to us at the start of humanity; we went back into the soil."

Reed is a partner in Knowlton Hewins Roberts Funeral Home of Winthrop and Augusta, and like many other undertakers, her firm has added "and Crematory" to its name. A member of the Maine Hospice Council, a group concerned with end-of-life care, Reed said that she wants her own body cremated when she dies. "My ashes are going to be scattered at Moosehead Lake," she said.

Kincer said cremation appeals to environmentalists because the body doesn't take up space, and a lot less material stuff is involved in the process. Kincer's Funeral Alternatives division -- with offices on Western Avenue, Augusta, and in Auburn -- is designed to meet growing demand for cremation.

Some groups continue to eschew cremation on religious grounds. Kincer said they include members of the Russian Orthodox community in Richmond, Greek Orthodox people in Lewiston-Auburn and Orthodox Jewish people in Portland.

A no-frills cremation from Direct Cremation of Maine costs $895. Co-owner Pam Riposta said you can pay more if you want an elegant urn for the remains, rather than the standard black box. She doesn't pressure anyone, she said. Most cemeteries will accept the black box, which is often deposited in a columbarium -- a mausoleum for cremation.

Riposta and her husband Mark started the Belfast service in 1985, adding it to the Crabiel-Riposta funeral home, which charges $6,000 and up for a traditional casket burial. Pam Riposta said some customers don't realize that you can have a traditional funeral, including a viewing of the body, and still choose cremation.

Direct Cremation uses Gracelawn Memorial Park in Auburn, one of five licensed crematories in Maine. The actual fee for cremation alone is $325.

If you don't want to pay anything for cremation, you can donate your body to medical research and receive remains of the body afterward. There are firms offering this service on the Internet.

Finally, if you want the tangy salt sea as your final resting place: A rebuilt 1903 Friendship Sloop called the Integrity is available for memorial charters in Harpswell, through owners Brian and Christine Wedge. You can take a sail for scattering of ashes at sea. The husband-wife business, calling itself Integrity Boatworks, even offers a biodegradable urn.

Some people choose a container that doesn't sink, "creating a serious legal, environmental and ethical dilemma," according to Integrity Boatworks. The urns the company supplies are guaranteed to sink, and to rapidly disintegrate.

Those choosing such a memorial cruise will receive documentation of the exact location of where ashes are tossed overboard, plus a notarized certificate of "burial at sea."