Platform: Hybrid WordPress/Custom PHP MySQL ♦ My Role: Design/Development ♦ From/To: 2010 to May 2025
The Requirement
Ferncliff Cemetery is a non-sectarian cemetery located in Westchester County, New York, serving families throughout greater New York since 1902. In 2010, a client of mine who is a consultant of theirs engaged me to redesign and rebuild their original site in the first of two phases. That rebuild was launched in 2011.
Phase 2 came in the fall of 2014. The site needed a new, modern, mobile friendly look and needed to more clearly describe and showcase Ferncliff’s various memorilization options.
The Solution
The solution was a hybrid website using WordPress and custom PHP templates and a custom PHP/MySQL back end CRM.
New Mobile Responsive Look
The new look of the new site better conveys the beauty and tranquility of Ferncliff Cemetery’s mausolea and grounds. All public-facing pages of the Web site — including those build on custom page templates populated from data sources outside of WordPress — scale gracefully and beautifully on all devices.
Notables
It is no surprise to anyone who has ever visited Ferncliff Cemetery and toured its expansive and beautiful mausolea and grounds that it is the choice of many of America’s most famous and accomplished people as their final resting place. Visitors from around the world visit Ferncliff, many to view the memorials of these notable individuals, including Governor Nelson Rockefeller, singer Judy Garland, and civil rights leader Malcolm X. A custom database stores and serves information about these notables, and visitors to the site can view memorials by location.
Memorialization Options
The various mausolea and grounds, and the various burial and cremation options offered at Ferncliff Cemetery are also managed and displayed through custom page templates and custom programming that cross-references locations and options.
Backend CRM
Website visitors who wish to receive additional information about Ferncliff Cemetery — in the form of high-quality, high resolution PDF brochures — submit inquiries through a custom form which stores those requests in an external database. A backend system ties into that database and serves as the foundation of a custom-built customer relationship management (CRM) system Ferncliff’s sales counselors use to generate and send emails with links to those brochures.
Update:
In May of 2025, Ferncliff's website moved under the management of a new firm.
Summary of Features:
New mobile responsive look & feel
Notables section (custom PHP/MySQL)
Memorialization options (custom PHP/MySQL)
Back end CRM (custom PHP/MySQL)
Screen Shots:
Click on thumbnail to enlarge
New Home Page
Notables Section
Memorialization Options
Back end CRM
Platform: Hybrid WordPress/Custom PHP MySQL ♦ My Role: Design/Development ♦ From/To: 2010 to May 2025
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