Bahamas cemetery too become large tourist attraction

Cemetery employee Tamita Barr said dozens of journalists have visited Lakeview Memorial since Smith died Feb. 8 at the age of 39 after she was found unconscious in a Florida hotel room.

"From the day the lady died there have been reporters," Barr said. "We don't stop them from coming, and we don't really know what drives them to come."

Some 1,500 people have been buried at Lakeview Memorial, one of two private cemeteries on New Providence island, since it opened in 1999. A double plot costs US$3,700, and the cemetery shows signs of an unfinished expansion, including a large patch still waiting to be covered with grass.

Until now, no celebrities are counted among those buried there, only "common people of the Bahamas," Barr said.

Smith's mahogany coffin, topped by the pink blanket with rhinestones spelling out her name, was carried into Mount Horeb Baptist Church as hundreds of tourists and fans watched from behind steel barricades guarded by police. Some in the crowd cried out "Anna! Anna! We love you!"

Inside the church, Smith's favorite color was on display. Pink roses and flower arrangements lined the aisle and adorned the altar, where organizers placed two photos of the blonde bombshell.

There were fewer than 100 guests at the service, even though an organizer said about 300, including an "Entertainment Tonight" camera crew, had been invited. Rock guitarist Slash, formerly of Guns N' Roses, was among the guests, and country singer Joe Nichols performed two songs, guests said.

Arthur, Birkhead and Stern took turns eulogizing the 39-year-old Smith, who died last month in a Florida hotel.

"It was pretty tough. The funeral itself was a mixture of emotions, there was a lot of crying and laughing," Birkhead, wearing a pink tie, told MSNBC after the service.

He also referred to comments Stern reportedly made at the service about the legal fight over custody of Smith's daughter.

"We were all given equal amount of time and that's how he chose to spend his time. I wouldn't have used my time that way. ... It doesn't make anything better," Birkhead said.

Kathryn Beranich, a supervising producer on Smith's reality TV show, said she thought Smith would have been happy with the ceremony. "I think she wouldn't have been pleased with the division between her biological family and the extended family she created and loved," she told The Associated Press.

Smith was later buried next to her 20-year-old son, Daniel, who died in September of an apparent drug overdose while visiting Smith in the hospital after she gave birth. "Entertainment Tonight" said she was buried with an urn containing some of the ashes of her late husband, Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II.

Smith was buried in a custom-made gown, said organizer Patrik Simpson of Beverly Hills, California

This is your chance to visit Anna Nicole's and Daniel Smith's virtual cemetery and pay your respects.

Anna Nicole Smith

Born

Died

8 February 2007, Hollywood, Florida, USA.