Blount & Curry Funeral Home at Garden of Memories

Personalized funeral services

Every person’s life has an extraordinary story. At Blount & Curry Funeral Home at Garden of Memories, we want to tell that story like no one else can. We create memorable and meaningful tributes that deeply reflect a person's passions and individuality. Whether featuring a favorite sports team (the Florida Gators and Florida State Seminoles are particularly popular here), a revered song or a beloved pastime, there are countless ways to celebrate your loved one’s life.

Our experienced and professional team is also well-versed in many religious and cultural customs. We have handled services for people of many walks of life, including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Hispanic. We also have Spanish-speaking team members.

Large and versatile funeral home

Spacious and contemporary, our funeral home is 20,000 square feet in size and can host everything from an intimate family gathering to a large community extravaganza. The main chapel accommodates up to 200 guests with traditional seating or round tables. With modern lighting, bright furniture, an upgraded audio/visual system and striking stained-glass windows, the chapel is a lovely space for celebrating your loved one. Our Cam-Rose Room has both traditional and round-table seating for 75-100 guests. The Azalea Room is meant for gatherings of 20-25 people, like a visitation or small reception.

We are here for you

Blount & Curry Funeral Home at Garden of Memories is located at 4207 E. Lake Ave. in Tampa, only minutes away from interstates 4 and 275. You are welcome to stop by to meet our caring team and tour our funeral home. Please call us when you need us.

Garden of Memories cemetery

Garden of Memories cemetery sits on more than 100 rolling acres. With many well-manicured gardens, moss-covered oak trees and a historic 5-story columbarium, the cemetery is the final resting place of pioneers, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and more. With many undeveloped acres, Garden of Memories will be able to serve Tampa-area families for generations to come.

Burial, cremation and entombment options

Garden of Memories offers many options to memorialize life. Whether you prefer in-ground burial, mausoleum entombment or a memorial choice specific to cremation, we have selections ranging in price and style to suit your needs.

We have private mausoleums in our premier pad site, lawn crypts, monument gardens, niches and community mausoleums—with private rooms, sarcophagi, side-by-side crypts and companion crypts. We also have private family estates with unlimited choices on upright monuments, memorials and cremation benches. You have plenty of options when you choose Garden of Memories.

Community mausoleums

Our 2 community mausoleums offer the prestige of above-ground entombment at a price comparable to ground burial. One is 3 stories tall, with access by private elevator or dual staircases. Our other community mausoleum complex, Chapel of Lights, was built by the Knopke family, the founders of Garden of Memories. It has a climate-controlled chapel and 1,280 crypt spaces.

Chimes Tower

Chimes Tower, the 1st columbarium for cremated remains ever built by a cemetery, is the focal point of the property. Surrounded by a manicured cremation garden, the cross-shaped building is 5 stories tall with an illuminated tower. Chimes Tower is a unique and magnificent structure that enriches the history and dignity of Garden of Memories.

Honoring veterans

We are honored to serve veterans and military families. The cemetery property includes 4 gardens dedicated to veterans. Veterans Garden 1 features the “Branches of Our Military” memorial. Veterans Garden 4 was created and dedicated to the U.S. armed forces after the Vietnam War. We fly the POW/MIA flag there at all times.

History

Founded in 1937 by Senator Ray C. Knopke and Roy Timble, Garden of Memories cemetery in Tampa was the 1st memorial park in Hillsborough County. It also was the 1st cemetery in the county to be protected by a perpetual care fund from its inception.

Adding a funeral home

In 1976, the Knopke family built a funeral home on the cemetery property. They named it Knopke Funeral Home. It was the 1st funeral home to be a sister location for a major cemetery on the west coast of Florida. A year later, the funeral home's name was changed to Garden of Memories Chapel. In 1981, the Knopkes built the current funeral home, now known as Blount & Curry Funeral Home at Garden of Memories, adjacent to the cemetery grounds. With 20,000 square feet, the funeral home includes a chapel that seats 200. Today, the original funeral home building serves as a church.

Myrtle Hill Memorial Park

Founded in 1917 by Daniel S. Wells, T.O. Wilson and Clifton Benson, Myrtle Hill Memorial Park sits next to Garden of Memories cemetery. Closely affiliated, the 2 cemetery properties are separated by a roadway and distinguished from one another by look and feel. Garden of Memories is characterized by flat memorials to maintain its “garden” effect, while Myrtle Hill is noted for its private estates, granite and marble upright markers and private family mausoleums.

Situated on 105 acres, Myrtle Hill Memorial Park offers a glimpse into the history of Hillsborough County. The cemetery is home to the private mausoleums of many of the original founding families of Tampa. In addition, numerous features and monuments throughout the cemetery property were hand carved and chiseled. Nowadays, most monuments and statues are created by machines.

The cemetery's garden mausoleum features a chapel area constructed in the early 1960s. Also within the cemetery is a Catholic section, established in 1926, when the nearby Catholic Church closed its cemetery in Tampa and transferred approximately 100 burials to Myrtle Hill.

Of course, with a cemetery as old as Myrtle Hill, there are plenty of myths and legends about the property. We cannot confirm that any of these legends are true, but many visitors have taken great interest in the garden mausoleum.