Whether they go by the name cemetery or memorial park, they are both places where the dead, cremated or not, are buried or entombed. Primarily the difference is that a cemetery has grave markers (headstones, tombstones) that stand upright or are slanted. Memorial parks predominantly get their name because they're meant to look like a park, meaning that all the grave markers must be flat with the ground. For ease of use, they are both referred to as cemeteries on this site.

Here are some common facts you may or may not know about cemeteries -

• most cemeteries require that a casket be placed inside a burial vault if it's being buried in the ground.
• in larger cities, cemeteries commonly sell graves that are two or three deep, meaning that a two or three grave lot will only take up the space of one grave as the two or three are buried one on top of the other. In this case, it's common for the cemetery to only require a burial vault for the bottom (first) burial.
• many will allow one person's ashes (in an urn) to be buried on top of another person's grave (with permission of the grave owner.)
• as with the above point, many will also allow the small casket of a baby to be buried on top of another person's grave. (with permission of the grave owner.)
• many have smaller graves only for cremated remains, which cost less to purchase, and to open and close for the burial.
• burial vaults sold by cemeteries are not of the same quality as those sold by a funeral home.

Most larger cemeteries have a public mausoleum where caskets are entombed above the ground. The spaces are priced according to their location. Those on an inside wall cost more than those on an outside wall and those at eye level cost more than those above or below it.

Most also have small niches that hold urns of cremated remains. Some have glass fronts which cost more and most have room to place some small items with the urn. Some cemeteries also have a "mausoleum" just for cremated remains. This is called a columbarium and the spaces are priced the same way as mentioned above. There is a picture of one on the subpage for Cremation, What to do with the ashes.

Private mausoleums are built and paid for by individual families, much like a "townhouse" for the deceased. They can hold the caskets of two to as many as sixteen family members. The larger ones have a space in which people can stand inside. This is known as a vestibule mausoleum. Those that do not have this and look like two caskets are encased in granite above the ground are sometimes known as a sarcophagus mausoleum. 

These elegant structures used to be built quite frequently and you can see a lot of them in some cemeteries. High costs made them a thing of the past; however current statistics now show that these meaningfully beautiful buildings are making a comeback!